4<^.''. 


"*5         _<■   \^?«s 


'""  ^.   ^~ 


■'^^''^al 


^.:,  V 


•^^ 


^Jt:x4^  '  '   •^^' 


-^^  '-^ 


V^-;^ 


^M.  -_        '«s»^C-     _r*fc -iJ*"  ■*,:^-«  /   '■^. 


.^tf'^.. 


C  '    7 


cJ^^l^^X^^ 


<c 


h^ 


^ 


^^^^^<^- 


^^ 


^ 


/- 


^z. 


<Z_         ^x^ c 


a<^<c5^ 


S 


LUfvcn  LJonnn  f 


SKETCHES 


HIS"'  ^v 


OF 


THE    IRISH    BAR 


BY    THE    RT.  HON. 


RICHARD  LALOR   SHEIL,  M.  P. 

WITH   MEMOIR   AND  NOTES 

BY 

K.  SHELTON  MACKENZIE,  D.C.L. 


IN  TWO   VOLUMES. 

Vol.   II.  ^0^iO.K 


REDFIELD 


34    BEEKMAN    STREET,    NEW    YORK 
1858 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1854, 

By  J.  S.  REDFIELD, 

in  the  Clerk'a   Jffice  ot  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States,  in  and  for  the  Southern 

District  of  New  York. 


STEREOTYPED    KY   C.   C.    SAVAQE, 
13  Clianibera  Street,  N.  Y. 


y. 


CONTENTS   OF  YOL.  IL 


LORD  NORBURY. 

His  Rise  and  Progress. —  Fighting  One's  Way  to  Fortune. —  Sir  Boyle 
Roche's  Bulls. —  Robert  Emmett's  Trial. —  Norbmy's  Judicial  Brutality. 
—  His  Personal  Appearance. —  Scenes  in  his  Court. — A  Noble  Jester. — 
His  Intolerant  Politics.— ^  The  Saurin  Letter. —  His  Enforced  Resigna- 
tion   PAGE  5 

CLONMEL  ASSIZES. 
Murder  of  Mr.  Chad  wick. —  Trial  and  Execution  of  Patrick  Grace. —  The 
Approver  and  Vengeance. —  Murder  of  Daniel  Mara. —  Trial  of  the  As- 
sassins.— 'Earl    of    Kingston.— The     Melodrama    of    Grime Capital 

Conviction. —  Causes  of  Irish  Disaffection 41 

THE  CATHOLIC  BAR. 

Exclusion  of  Catholics. —  Sir  Theobald  Butler's  Pleading  against  the 
Penal  Laws.— f  The  Gallant  Sarsfield. —  Bi'itish  Violation  of  the  Treaty  of 
Limei'ick. —  Lord  Chestei-field  and  Lady  Palmer. —  Mr.  William  Bellevir. 
— Catholic  Marriages. —  Money. —  The  Court  of  Chancery. —  A  Cath- 
olic Lawyer's  Religious  Manifestations 75 

SIR  MICHAEL  O'LOGHLIN. 

His  Person,  Deportment,  and  Descent. —  Bar  Costume. —  Bumbo  Green, 
the  Legal  Falstaff. —  British  Judicial  System. — Chief-Baron  O'Grady. — 
Sir  W.  C.  Smith. —  O'Loghlin  appointed  Master  of  the  Rolls. —  Is  made 
a  Baronet. —  His  Danish  Ancestor lOG 

LORD-CHANCELLOR  BLACKBURNE. 

Chief  Baron  Wolfe. —  Peter  Henchey  and  Lord  Manners. — ^Peter  Bur- 
rowes. — Ill-timed  Ascendency  Manifestation. —  Curran's  Eloquence  and 
Conversation. —  Blackburne's  Practice  and  Promotions. —  Orange  Char- 
ter Toast. —  The  Burning  of  the  Sheas. —  Shell's  Speech  to  the  Peasant- 
ry    1 1 8 

CONFESSIONS  OF  A  JUNIOR  BARRISTER. 

Training  for  the  Bar. —  Gale  Jones. —  Early  Struggles. — An  Aggregate 
Meeting. —  Results  of  an  Oration. — The  Lawyer  in  Love. —  A  Double 
Confidant, —  Eloquence  de  Billet. —  The  Gain  of  Godliness. —  Hope  de- 
ferred.—  Dancing  into  Practice 154 


Q  Q  ^.\  ^ 
O  O  U"  ''^y 


4-  CONTENTS. 

LORD-CHANCELLOR  MANNERS, 

His  Biograpby. —  Farewell  to  the  L'ish  Bar. —  Mr.  Joy's  Valediction. — 
Catholic  Magistrates. —  Dublin  Corporation page   172 

THE  MANNERS  TESTIMONIAL. 
Scenes  in  the  Chancellor's  Cai-eer. —  The  Jesuits. —  Judicial  Incompetency. 
—  Lord  Rathdown  in  Character 1^4 

THE  CATHOLIC  DEPUTATION. 

Catholic  Politics  in  1825. — Invasion  of  England. —  O'Connell  en  route. — 
Dr.  Milner  and  Charles  Butler. —  Burdett,  Plunket,  Brougham,  Weth- 
erell,  Peel,  and  Joseph  Hume,  the  Dukes  of  Devonshire  and  Leinstei", 
Lords  Durham  and  Abinger,  Dukes  of  Sussex  and  Norfolk,  Coke  of  Nor- 
folk.—  Character  of  O'Connell's  Eloquence. —  Catholic  Meeting  in  Lon- 
don.—  A  Dinner  Batch  of  Nobles.-—  Charles  James  Fox  and  Lord  Grey.   192 

ARCHIBALD  HAMILTON  ROWAN. 
An  Iiish  Patriot. —  Remarkable  Exterior. —  Flight  from  Pi-ison. —  Jackson's 
Chivalry. —  Asylum  in  America 230 

JOHN  LESLIE  FOSTER. 

Louth  Election  in  1826. —  The  Roden  and  Oriel  League. —  Hany  Mills, 
the  "Village  Hampden." — Cost  of  making  a  Peer. —  Leslie  Foster  in 
Parliament. —  Nobility  among  the  Commons. —  Marquis  of  Anglesey. — 
Bot  Smith. —  The  Customs'  Job. —  Foster  in  Ermine 235 

THE  CLARE  ELECTION,  IN  1828.  . 
Vesey  Fitzgerald  opposed  by  the  Catholic  Association. —  Candidate-Hunt- 
ing.—  OiConnell  in  the  Field. —  Tom  Steele,  O'Gorman  Mahon,  and 
"Honest  Jack  Lawless." — Father  Tom  Maguire. — The  Priest  of  Cor- 
ofin. — The  Contest, —  O'Connell's  Victory,  and  its  Results. —  Sheil's 
Speech. —  "  The  Duke"  and  Catholic  Emancipation 265 

PENENDEN  HEATH  MEETING. 

Gathering  of  the  "Men  of  Kent." — Cobbett  and  Hunt. — The  Brunswick- 
ers. —  Lord  Camden,  a  Model  Sinecurist. —  Sheil's  Unspoken  Speech  . .   315 

LORD  CHANCELLOR  BROUGHAM,  IN  1831. 

His  Elevation. —  Lord  Lyndhurst. —  The  Chancellor's  Levee. — Archbishops 
of  Canterbury  and  York. —  Wellington  and  Brougham. —  Francis  Jef- 
frey.—  Scai'lett. — Jocky  Bell.— The  Speaker. —  Lord  Denman 340 

STATE  OF  PARTIES  IN  DUBLIN. 

Recent  Changes. —  Mr.  Bellew  "in  Silk  Attire." — O'Loghlin. —  Purcel 
O'GoiTnan. —  Dublin  Election. —  The  Candidates:  Moore  and  Recorder 
Shaw,  Harty  and  Louis  Pemn. —  Sir  Anthony  Hart  and  the  Master  of 
the  Rolls. —  Mr.  Saurin. —  Dutch  Smugglers. —  Popular  Triumph 354 

Index 367 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  IRISH  BAR. 


LORD   NOEBURY. 


Three  remarkable  incidents  have  lately  taken  place.  Lord 
NoRBURY,  in  testimony  of  bis  long  and  numerous  services,  has 
been  created  an  earl,  Lord  Plunket  has  sunk  into  his  successor, 
and  Lord  Manners  took  his  leave  amidst  a  strong  odor  of 
onions,  and  the  tears  of  the  L'ish  Bar.*  I  had  intended  to 
make  these  three  events  the  groundwork  of  the  present  article; 
for  Lord  Plunket's  first  appearance  on  the  stage  from  which 
Lord  Norbury  had  just  made  his  exit  —  his  wan  and  dejected 
aspect,  which  was,  as  much  as  his  intellect,  in  contrast  with  that 
of  his  predecessor — the  melancholy  smile  which  superseded 
his  habitually  haughty  and  sardonic  expression  —  the  exulta- 
tion of  his  antagonists  at  seeing  him  descend  from  his  recent 
elevation,  and  the  sympathy  which  tlie  liberal  portion  of  the 
Bar  felt  in  Avhat  was  considered  as  his  fall,  presented  a  scene 
of  deep  and  extraordinary  interest. 

It  was  also  my  purpose  (inasmuch  as  no  reasonable  expecta- 
tion can  be  entertained  that  a  new  edition  of  Rose  and  Beattio 
will  afford  an  opportunity  of  attaching,  by  way  of  appendix 

*  This  Sketch  was  published  in  November,  1827,  but  appeai-s  to  have  been 
Yvrittcn  before  Canr.ing's  death,  which  took  place  in  August,  during  the  same 
year.  The  retirement  of  Lord  Manners  from  the  Chancellorship,  and  the  ap- 
pointment of  Plunket  as  Chief-Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas,  took  place,  under 
Canning's  Administiation,  in  1827, —  M. 


6  LORD    NOEBURY. 

to  those  immortal  records  of  judicial  Avisdom,  a  report  of  Lord 
Manners's  last  judgment  upon  himself)  to  preserve  some  account 
of  his  lordship's  final  adjudication  upon  his  own  merits,  and  to 
commemorate  the  tear  tlrat  fell  upon  that  pathetic  occasion 
from  the  "  Outalissi"  of  the  Four  Courts —     , 

"  The  first,  the  last,  the  only  tear 
That  Peter  Henchey  shed  :" 

but  I  find  that  the  first  of  the  incidents  to  which  I  have  re- 
ferred, together  with  an  account  of  the  progress  of  Lord  Nor- 
hurj  through  the  various  parts  which  he  performed  in  the 
political  theatre,  from  his  first  entrance  as  *'  an  L-ish  gentle- 
man" in  the  House  of  Commons,  to  his  exit  as  a  jester  fron^ 
the  bench,  will  occupy  so  much  space,  that  I  must  confine 
myself  to  the  biography  of  his  Lordship  ;  which,  however  little 
it  may  be  instructive,  will  not,  I  think,  be  found  unamusing, 
and  falls  within  the  scope  of  the  articles  on  the  Irish  Bar. 

In  the  account  given  by  Sir  Pertinax  Macsycophant  of  his 
rise  and  progress  in  the  world,  he  states  that  his  only  patri- 
mony was  a  piece  of  parental  advice,  Avhich  stood  him  in  lieu 
of  an  estate.  I  have  heard  it  said,  that  Lord  Norbury,  in 
detailing  the  circumstances  which  attended  his  original  ad- 
vancement in  life,  generally  commenced  the  narrative  of  his 
adventures  Avitli  a  death-bed  scene  of  a  peculiarly  Irish  char- 
acter. His  father,  a  gentleman  of  a  respectable  Protestant 
family  in  the  county  of  Tipperary,  called  him  in  his  last 
moments  to  his  side,  and  after  stating  that,  in  order  to  sustain 
the  ancient  and  venerable  name  of  Toler  in  its  dignity,  he 
had  devised  the  estate  derived  from  a  sergeant  (not  at  law)  to 
his  eldest  son,  the  old  CroniAvellian  drew  from  under  his  pillow 
a  case  of  silver-mounted  pistols,  and,  delivering  this  "  donatio 
mortis  causa,"  charged  him  never  to  omit  exhibiting  the 
promptitude  of  an  Irish  gentleman,  in  resorting  to  these  foren- 
sic and  parliamentary  instruments  of  advancement.* 

*  Lord  Norbui-y  made  frequent,  if  not  good,  use  of  his  pistols  —  "  barkers," 
as  they  were  called  in  fighting  parlance.  He  fought  with  several  persons,  ono 
of  whom  was  the  ruffianly  "  Fighting  Fitzgerald"  who  was  finally  hanged  for 
murder.  In  those  days  a  duel  was  necessary  to  fix  a  man's  chai-acter.  Wheu 
H  young  man  entered  society,  the  first  word  wap,  "  VVliat  family  does  he  come 


CALLED    TO    THE    BAR.  7 

The  family  acres  having  gone  to  the  eldest  brother,  our  hero 
proceeded  with  his  specific  legacy,  well  oiled  and  primed,  to 
Dublin,  having  no  other  fortune  than  the  family  pistols,  and  a 
couple  of  hundred  pounds,  when  he  was  called,  in  the  year 
1770,  to  the  Bar.  The  period  is  so  remote,  that  no  account  of 
his  earlier  exploits,  beyond  that  of  his  habitual  substitution  of 
the  canons  of  chivalry  for  those  of  law,  has  remained.  With 
one  of  his  contemporaries,  the  late  Sir  Frederick  Flood,  I 
was  acquainted,  and  I  have  heard  that  eminent  person,  whom 
the  intellectual  aristocracy  of  Wexford  sent  to  supply  the 
place  of  Mr.  Fuller  in  the  British  House  of  Commons,*  occa- 

from  ?"  the  second,  "  Who  has  he  hla,zed  with  ?"  When  plain  Mr.  Toler,  Lord 
Norbuiy  quarrelled  with  Sir  Jonah  Barrington.  It  was  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, when  Barrington  having  accused  him  of  having  "  a  hand  for  every  man 
anl  a  heart  for  nobody"  (which  was  true  to  the  letter),  Toler  gave  a  sharp  re- 
ply, and  hurriedly  retired.  Barrington,  who  understood  his  look,  followed. 
The  Speaker  sent  in  pursuit  of  both  gentlemen.  Barrington  was  overtaken, 
nnning  down  Nassau  street,  and,  on  his  resistance,  was  bodily  snatched  up,  in 
presence  of  a  shouting  mob  of  grinning  spectators,  and  literally  carried  into  the 
House,  on  a  man's  shoulders.  Toler,  caught  by  his  coat-skirts  being  fastened 
by  a  door,  was  seized,  and  pulled  until  the  skirts  were  separated  from  the  gar- 
ment. The  Speaker  called  on  both  to  give  a  promise  that  the  affair  should  go 
no  farther,  which  Barrington  did  at  once.  Toler  rose  to  speak,  minus  his  skirts, 
ana  the  laughter  caused  by  his  appearance  was  increased  when  Curran  gi-ave- 
ly  said  that  *'  it  was  offering  an  unparalleled  insult  to  the  House,  for  one  hon- 
orable member  to  trim  another  member's  jacket,  Mdthin  the  precincts  of  Par- 
liament, and  almost  in  view  of  the  Speaker  himself."  To  the  last,  even  when 
judge,  Norbury  was  anxious  to  display  himself  in  the  duello.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  his  advancement  was  owing  moi'e  to  his  readiness  to  challenge  and 
fight,  than  to  any  merit  as  a  lawyer.  He  valued  his  life  at  nothing  —  a  vei-y 
fair  estimate.  —  M. 

*  Sir  Frederick  Flood  was  member  for  Wexford  County  in  the  Im.perial  Par- 
liament, where  he  was  much  laughed  at  for  his  blunders,  his  ostentation,  and 
his  good  temper.  He  used  to  adopt  almost  any  suggestion,  while  making  a 
speech.  Praising  the  Wexford  magistracy  for  their  zeal,  he  suggested,  "  They 
ought  to  receive  some  signal  mark  of  vice-regal  favor."  Egan  (commonly 
called  Bully  Egan,  and  judge  of  Dublin  County)  jocularly  whispered,  "and  be 
whipped  at  the  cart's  tail."  Flood,  hearing  the  words,  completed  his  speech 
by  adding  —  "and  be  whipped  at  the  cart's  tail!"  He  did  not  discover  his 
unconscious  mistake,  until  awakened  by  a  shout  of  laughter  from  his  auditors. 
Jack  Fuller  was  an  English  M.  P.,  who  was  the  acknowledged  Parliamentary 
buffoon,  after  the  brilliant  wit  of  Sheridan  ceased  to  enliven  the  Legislutui'e. 
Fuller  was  a  mere  joker  :  Sheridan  a  man  of  genius,  —  W. 


8  LORD    NOKBUKY. 

sionally  expatiate  on  tlie  feats  which  he  used  to  perform  with 
Lord  Norbmy,  with  something  of  the  spirit  with  which  Justice 
Shallow  records  his  achievements  at  Clement's  Inn.  "  Oh  the 
mad  days  that  I  have  spent,"  Sir  Frederick  used  to  say,  "  and 
to  think  that  so  many  of  my  old  acquaintances  are  dead  !" 
The  details,  however,  of  his  narrations  have  escaped  me.  I 
had  calculated  that,  as  he  was  a  strict  disciple  of  Abernethy 
(except  when  he  dined  out),  he  would  have  equalled  Cornaro 
in  longevity ;  but  being  as  abstemious  in  his  dress  as  in  his 
diet,  and  having  denied  himself  the  luxury  of  an  exterior 
integument.  Sir  Frederick  coughed  himself,  a  couple  of  winters 
since,  unexpectedly  away.  I  am,  therefore,  unable  to  resoit 
to  any  of  Lord  Norbury's  original  companions,  for  an  authentic 
account  of  the  first  development  of  his  genius  at  the  L'isi 
Bar. 

If  that  bar  had  been  constituted  as  it  is  at  present,  at  tlie 
period  when  Lord  Norbury  was  called,  it  is  difficult  to  imagine 
how  he  could  have  succeeded.  Destitute  of  knowledge,  with 
a  mind  which,  however  shrewd  and  sagacious  in  the  perception 
of  his  own  interests,  was  unused  to  consider,  and  was  almost 
incapable  of  comprehending  any  legal  proposition,  he  could 
never  have  risen  to  any  sort  of  eminence,  where  perspicuity  or 
erudition  was  requisite  for  success.  But  the  qualifications  for 
distinction,  at  the  time  when  Lord  Norbury  was  called,  were 
essentially  different  from  v/hat  they  are  at  present.  Endowed 
with  the  lungs  of  Stentor,  and  a  vivacity  of  temperament 
which  sustained  him  in  all  the  turbulence  of  Irish  Nisi  Prius, 
and  superadding  to  his  physical  attributes  for  noise  and  blus- 
ter, a  dauntless  determination,  he  obtained  some  employment 
in  those  departments  of  his  profession,  in  which  merits  of  the 
kind  were  at  that  time  of  value.  His  elder  brother,  Daniel, 
was  elected  member  for  the  county  of  Tipperary,  which  brought 
him  into  connection  with  Government;  but,  besides  his  broth- 
er's vote,  he  is  reported  to  have  intimated  to  the  ministry,  that 
upon  all  necessary  occasions  his  life  should  be  at  their  service. 
The  first  exploit  from  which  his  claims  upon  the  gratitudfe  of 
the  local  administration  of  the  country  were  chiefly. derived, 
was  the  "putting  down,"  to  use  the  technical  phrase,  of  Mr. 


CHALLENGES  NAPPER  TANDY.  » 

Napper  Tandy  *     The  latter  was  a  distinguislied  member  of 
tlie  Whig  Club,  and  was  a  tribnne  of  the  people. 

Tandy  had  set  up  great  pretensions  to  intrepidity,  but, 
having  come  into  collision  Avith  Lord  Norbnry,  manifested  so 
little  alacrity  in  accepting  the  ready  tender  which  was  made 
to  him  by  that  intrepid  loyalist,  that  the  latter  was  considered 
to  have  gained  a  decided  superiority.  Napper  Tandy  re- 
mained lingering  on  the  threshold  of  the  arena,  while  the 
prize-fighter  of  the  ministers  rushed  into  it  at  once,  and  brand- 
ished his  sword  amidst  the  applauses  of  that  party,  of  wliicli 
he  was  thenceforward  the  champion.  The  friends  of  Napper 
Tandy  accounted  for  his  tardiness  in  calling  on  Lord  Norbury 
(who  declared  his  willingness  to  meet  him  in  half  an  hour),  by 
referring  it  to  an  apprehension  that  the  House  of  Commons 
would  interfere ;  but  it  seems  probable  that  the  patriot  of  the 
hour  set  a  higher  estimate  upon  his  existence  than  it  merited, 

*  James  Napper  Tandy  was  an  Mshman,  of  good  family,  high  education, 
and  respectable  fortune.  He  was  a  United  Irishman,  and  retired  to  France, 
to  avoid  arrest  in  Ireland.  There  he  received  a  Commission,  as  general  of  bri- 
gade, in  one  of  the  expeditions  against  Ireland,  in  1798,  which  came  to  noth- 
ing. The  year  following,  Napper  Tandy  was  in  Hamburgh,  where  the  English 
Government  had  spies,  and  the  local  authorities  surrendered  him,  as  a  prisoner 
claimed  by  England.  Napoleon,  who  was  then  first  consul,  reclaimed  Tandy,  as 
an  officer  in  the  army  of  France,  and  declared  that  if  a  hair  of  his  head  were 
touched,  a^  English  officer  of  equal  rank,  taken  prisoner  in  France,  should  bo 
hanged.  The  threat  was -a  strong  one,  the  man  likely  to  execute  it,  and,  in- 
stead of  executing  Tandy  as  "  a  traitor,"  England  exchanged  him,  as  a  pris- 
oner-of-war. He  died  in  the  French  service.  Napoleon  levied  a  heavy  fine 
on  the  city  of  Hamburgh  for  their  breach  of  neutrality  in  surrendering  a  French 
officer.  It  should  be  noted  that  Theobald  Wolfe  Tone,  taken  in  arms  in  Le 
Hoche,  a  French  ship-of-war  which  took  troops  to  Ireland  in  September,  1798, 
had  as  much  right  to  be  reclaimed  by  France,  in  whose  military  office  he  was, 
as  Tandy.  There  was  not  time  to  do  so,  so  rapidly  did  his  trial  and  co7l^^ction 
follow  his  capture.  It  is  known  that  Tone  cut  his  throat  in  pnson,  to  avoid 
death  on  the  scaffold.  But  it  is  not  generally  known  that  it  was  seriouslv  dis- 
cussed by  the  Irish  executive,  whether,  "  for  the  sake  of  the  example,''  he 
should  not  be  conducted  to  the  gallows,  half-dead  as  he  was,  and  executed 
forthwith  —  though  to  do  so,  it  would  be  necessary  to  insert  the  halter  within 
the  wound,  and  thereby  probably  tear  the  victim's  head  from  his  body .'  Human- 
ity or  the  fear  of  public  execration  prevailed,  and  Tone  was  suffered  to  die  in 
peace,  after  lingering  for  eight  days    .i  mortal  pain,  —  M. 

1* 


10  T.<^RD    NORBURY. 

wliile  Lord  Norbury  rnted  Limself  at  Lis  leal  value,  and  did 
not  "  set  his  life  at  a  pin's  fee." 

After  this  affair,  which  mainly  contributed  to  the  making  of 
his  fortunes,  the  minister  determined  to  turn  the  principal 
talent  which  he  appeared  to  possess,  and  of  ^vhich  he  had 
given  so  conspicuous  a  proof  to  farther  account.  In  the  Irish 
House  of  Commons,  the  government  party,  when  hard  pressed, 
converted  the  debate  into  a  sort  of  sanguinary  burletta,  in 
which  Lord  Norbury,  then  Sergeant  Toler,  and  Sir  Boyle 
Koche,*  of  blundering  memory,  were  their  favorite  performers. 

*  Sir  Boyle  Roche  was  an  Irish  Baronet,  who  had  a  seat  in  Parliament,  and 
was  the  droll  of  the  House.  He  was  famous  for  his  bulls  —  which,  though  the 
expression  might  be  incorrect,  generally  involved  aphorisms  of  sound  sense. 
He  was  of  respectable  family  —  with  a  claim  to  the  title  of  Viscount  Fermoy,  but 
never  urging  it.  Once,  when  it  was  stated,  on  a  money-grant,  that  it  was  unjust 
to  saddle  posterity  with  a  debt  incun-ed  to  benefit  the  present  generation.  Sir 
Boyle  rose  up  and  said,  "  Why  should  we  beggar  ourselves  to  benefit  posterity  ? 
What  has  posterity  done  for  us  ?"  The  laugh  which  followed  rather  surprised 
him,  as  he  was  unconscious  of  his  blunder.  He  explained  :  "  Sir,  by  posterity 
I  do  not  mean  our  ancestors,  but  those  who  come  immediately  after  themy 
—  Arguing  in  favor  of  a  harsh  Government  measure,  he  urged  that  it  would  be 
better  to  give  up  not  only  n  part,  but  even  the  whole  of  the  constitution,  to  pre- 
serve the  remainder^ — On  another  occasion,  as  a  free  ti'anslation  of 

"  Tu  ne  cede  malis,  sed  contra  audentior  ito," 
he  said  "  The  best  way  to  avoid  danger,  is  to  meet  it  plump y — Complaining  of 
the  smallness  of  wine-bottles,  he  suggested  that  a  bill  should  be  passed  enact- 
ing that  every  quart-bottle  should  hold  a  quart. —  He  married  Sir  John  Cave's  eld- 
est daughter,  and  boasted  that  if  he  had  an  older  one.  Sir  John  would  have  given 
her  to  him. — Fearing  the  progress  of  revolutionaiy  opinions,he  drew  a  frightful  pic- 
ture of  the  future,  remarking  that  the  House  of  Commons  might  be  invaded  by 
ruffians  who,  said  he,  "  would  cut  us  to  mince-meat  and  throw  our  bleeding  heads 
on  that  table,  to  stare  us  in  the  face." — Arguing  in  favor  of  the  Union  of  Ireland 
with  England,  he  said  (rather  wittily)  that"  there  was  no  Levitical  degrees  be- 
tween nations,  and,  on  this  occasion,  he  saw  neither  sin  nor  shame  in  marrying  oxer 
own  sister.^' — He  brought  in  a  bill  for  the  improvement  of  the  Dublin  police, 
who  were  in  the  habit  of  sleeping  on  their  post,  at  night,  and  introduced  a 
clause  to  the  effect  that  '*  every  watchman  should  be  compelled  to  sleep  in  the 
daytime."  On  this,  another  membet  ai'ose  and  begged  to  be  included  in  that 
clause,  by  name,  "  as  he  was  troubled  with  the  gout  and  sometimes  could  not 
sleep  by  night  or  day." — He  assisted  in  preparing  a  bill  to  provide  for  the  erec- 
tion of  a  new  jail  in  Dublin,  and  stated  that  the  new  prison  should  be  built  on 
the  site  and  with  the  n^aterials  of  the  old  one,  and  that  the  prisoners  should 


SIR   BOYLE 'eOCHE    AND    HIS   BULLS.  11 

• 

When  Grattan  had  ignited  the  House  of  Commons,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  awakening  some  recollections  of  public  virtue  in  that 
corrupt  and  prostituted  assembly,  or  when  Mr.  Poiisonby,  the 
leader  of  the  Whig  aristocracy,  had,  by  his  clear  and  simple 
exposition  of  the  real  interests  of  the  country,  brought  a  reluc- 
tant conviction  of  their  duty  to  those  who  were  most  interested  in 
shutting  it  out,  finding  themselves  unequal  to  cope  in  eloquence 
with  the  one,  or  in  argument  wdth  the  other,  the  government 
managers  produced  Sir  Boyle  Eoche  and  Sergeant  Toler  upon 
the  scene. 

On  Grattan  the  experiment  of  bullying  was  not  tried,  for  his 
firmness  was  too  well  known.  Sir  Boyle  was,  therefore,  ap- 
pointed to  reply  to  him,  as  his  absurdities  were  found  to  be 
useful  in  restoring  the  House  to  that  moral  tone,  from  which 
the  elevating  declamation  of  the  greatest  speaker  of  his  time 
had  *for  a  moment  raised  them.  Under  the  influence  of  Sir 
Boyle's  blunders,  which  w^ere  in  part  intended,  the  Irish  legis- 
lators recovered  their  characteristic  pleasantry,  and  *'  made 
merry  of  a  nation's  woes  ;"  w^iile  Sergeant  Toler,  who  almost 
equalled  Sir  Boyle  in  absurdity,  and  was  more  naturally,  be- 

continue  to  reside  in  the  old  prison  until  the  new  one  was  completed  !  —  Bar- 
rington  states  that  the  postillion  of  Lord  Lisle  having-  been  mulcted  in  damages 
for  crim.  con.  with  Lady  Lisle,  and  imprisoned  in  default  of  payment,  and  an 
applicant  for  relief  as  an  Lisolvent  Debtor,  which  the  Legislature  resisted,  Sir 
Boyle  Roche  argued  for  him  (and  with  much  plausibility)  that  "  Lady  Lisle, 
and  not  Dennis  McCarthy,  must  have  been  the  real  seducer,"  and  concluded 
by  asking  "  Mr.  Speaker,  what  was  this  poor  servant's  crime?  —  Sure,  it  was 
only  doing  his  master's  business  by  his  mistress's  order." — Cun-an  used  to  Say 
that  Sir  Boyle  Roche  had  a  rival  in  an  Irish  Judge,  who  sagely  contended,  in 
an  argument  on  the  construction  of  a  will,  that  "  it  appeared  to  him  that  the 
testator  meant  to  keep  a  life  interest  in  the  estate  to  himself."  Curran  an- 
swered, "  True,  my  Lord  ;  testators  do  generally  secure  a  life  interest  for  them- 
selves, but  in  this  case,  I  rather  think  you  taJce  the  will  for  the  deedy  Sir  Boyle 
Roche's  bulls  illustrated  what  may  be  called  arguing  wrongly  from  right  prem- 
ises. To  illustrate  this,  let  me  add  a  bull  by  another.  Two  Lishmen  met, 
after  a  long  separation,  and  to  an  inquiry  after  the  health  of  a  third  person,  the 
reply  was,  "  Oh,  he's  been  ill.  He's  had  the  fever.  It  has  v/orn  him  down,  as 
thin  as  a  thread-paper.  You  are  thin,  and  I  am  thin,  but  he  is  thinner  than 
both  of  us  put  together.'''  Here  the  idea  is  fully  conveyed,  but,  in  the  huny  of 
clothing  the  thought  with  language,  the  mode  of  expression  is  incon-ect.  And 
Buch  is  that  amusing  thing  —  an  Irish  Bull. —  M. 


12  LOED   NORBURT. 

cause  he  was  iuvoluntarily  extravagant,  played  Lis  part,  and 
was  let  loose  upon  Mr.  Ponsonby,  whose  nerves  Avere  of  a  deli- 
cate organization,  with  singular  effect.  That  eminent  states- 
man had  made  a  speech,  recommending  Catholic  Emancipa- 
tion, and  other  collateral  measures,  as  the  only  means  of  rescu- 
ing Ireland  from  the  ruin  which  impended  over  her.  He  was 
always  remarkable  for  the  dignified  urbanity  of  his  manners, 
and  in  the  speech  to  which  Sergeant  Toler  replied,  scarcely 
any  man  but  Toler  could  have  found  materials  for  personal 
vituperation. 

The  English  reader  will  be  able  to  form  some  idea  of  the 
system  on  which  the  debates  of  the  Irish  House  of  Commons 
were  carried  on,  and  to  estimate  Lord  Norbury's  powers  of 
minacious  oratory,  from  the  following  extract  from  the  parlia- 
mentary debates  :  '*  What  was  it  come  to,  that  in  the  Irish 
House  of  Commons  they  should  listen  to  one  of  their* own 
members  degrading  the  character  of  an  Irish  gentleman  by 
language  which  was  fitted  but  for  hallooing  a  mob  ?  Had  he 
heard  a  man  uttering  out  of  those  doors  such  language  as  that 
by  which  the  honorable  gentleman  had  violated  the  decorum 
of  Parliament,  he  would  have  seized  the  ruffian  hy  the  throaty 
and  dragged  him  to  the  dust !  What  were  the  House  made 
of,  who  could  listen  in  patience  to  such  abominable  sentiments? 
sentiments,  thank  God !  Avhich  were  acknowledged  by  no 
class  of  men  in  this  country,  except  the  execrable  and  infamous 
nest  of  traitors,  Avho  were  known  by  the  nanje  of  United  Irish- 
men, who  sat  brooding  in  Belfast  over  their  discontents  and 
treasons,  and  from  Avhose  publications  he  could  trace,  Avord  for 
word,  e\"ery  expression  the  honorable  gentleman  had  used." — 
hish  Parliamentary  Debates,  Feb.,  1797. 

Of  this  fragment  of  vituperation  Mr.  Ponsonby  took  no  no- 
tice;  and  the  object  of  the  orator  Avas  attained,  in  securing 
himself  a  ncAv  title  to  the  gratitude  of  those  who  kept  a  band 
of  bravoes  hired  in  their  service,  and  could  not  have  selected 
a  more  appropriate  instrument  than  Lord  Norbury  for  the  pur- 
poses of  intimidation.  To  his  personal  courage,  or  rather 
recklessness  of  the  lives  of  others  as  Avell  as  his  own,  he  is 
chiefly  indebted  for  his  promotion.     It  Avas  the  leading  trait 


IITS    PROMOTION.  13 

of  his  character,  and,  prevailing  over  his  extravagance,  invested 
him  with  a  sort  of  spurious  respectability.  In  the  manifesta- 
tions of  that  spirit,  vv'hich  had  become  habitual,  he  has  perse- 
vered to  the  last ;  and  even  since  he  has  been  a  Chief-Justice 
has  betrayed  his  original  tendency  to  settle  matters  after  the 
old  Irish  fashion,  at  the  distance  of  tv/elve  paces.  He  has 
more  than  once  intimated  to  a  counsel,  who  was  pressing  him 
too  closely  with  a  Bill  of  Exceptions,  that  he  would  not  seek 
shelter  behind  the  bench,  or  merge  the  gentleman  in  the  Chief- 
Justice  ;  and,  when  a  celebrated  senator  charged  him  with 
having  fallen  asleep  on  a  trial  for  murder,  he  is  reported  to 
have  declared  that  he  would  resign,  in  order  to  demand  satis- 
faction, as  "  that  Scotch  Broom  (Brougham)  wanted  nothing  so 
much  as  an  Irish  sticks 

In  the  year  1798,  Lord  Norbury  was  his  Majesty's  Solicitor- 
General.  His  services  to  Government  had  been  hitherto  con- 
fined to  the  display  of  ferocious  rhetoric  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, of  which  I  have  quoted  a  specimen.  The  civil  disturb- 
ances of  the  country  offered  a  new  field  to  his  genius,  and 
afibrded  him  an  opportunity  of  accumulating  his  claims  upon 
the  gratitude  of  the  CroAvn,  which  could  not  have  found  a  more 
zealous,  and,  I  will  even  add,  a  more  useful  servant  during  the 
rebellion.  If  the  juries  before  Avhom  the  hordes  who  were 
charged  with  high  treason  were  put  upon  their  trial,  had  been 
either  scrupulous  or  reluctant,  if  any  questions  of  effectual 
difficulty  could  have  arisen,  and  the  forms  of  the  law  could 
have  been  used  with  any  chance  of  success  in  the  defence  of 
the  prisoners,  if  Justice  had  not  rushed  with  eagerness  through 
every  impediment,  and  broken  all  ceremony  down,  such  a 
Solicitor-General  as  Lord  Norbury  would  have  been  an  inap- 
plicable and  inefficient  instrument ;  but  the  evidence  of  in- 
formers was  generally  so  direct  and  simple,  and  so  strong  was 
the  impatience  of  juries  to  precipitate  themselves  to  a  convic- 
tion, all  niceties  and  technicalities  of  the  law  were  so  utterly 
disregarded,  and  it  Avas  so  little  requisite  that  the  conductors 
of  Government  prosecutions  should  possess  either  acuteness  or 
knowledge,  that  Lord  Norbury's  faculties  were  quite  equal  to 
the  discharge  of  his  official  duty,  while  they  were  in  happy 


14:  LORD  NOEBURY. 

adaptation  to  tlie  moral  character  of  the  public  tribunals,  and 
tbe  exigency  of  the  time. 

To  strike  terror  into  the  people  was  the  great  object  to  be 
attained,  and  Lord  Norbury  had  many  qualifications  for  the 
purpose.  He  stood  in  a  court  of  justice,  not  only  as  the  servant 
of  his  sovereign,  but  as  the  representative,  in  some  measure, 
of  the  powerful  Cromwellian  aristocracy  to  which  his  family 
belonged,  and  in  whose  prejudi.^es  and  passions  he  himself 
vehemently  participated.  His  whole  bearing  and  aspect 
breathed  a  turbulent  spirit  of  domination.  His  voice  was  deep 
and  big  ;  and  in  despite  of  the  ludicrous  associations  connected 
with  his  character,  when  it  rolled  the  denunciations  of  infuri- 
ated power  through  the  court,  derived  from  the  terrible  intima- 
tions which  it  conveyed,  an  awful  and  appalling  character. 
He  did  not,  indeed,  cease  to  utter  absurdity,  but  his  orations 
were  fraught  with  a  kind  of  truculent  bombast  —  a  sort  of  san- 
guinary "fee,  fa,  fum  !"  while  the  dilation  of  his  nostrils,  and 
the  fierceness  of  his  look,  expressed,  if  I  may  so  say,  the  scent 
of  a  traitor's  blood.*     In  his  moments  of  excitation  (and  he  is 

*  It  may  seem  uncharitable  to  pronomice  such  an  opinion,  but  there  appear 
strong-  grounds  for  thinking  that  Lord  Norbury,  as  a  Judge,  felt  a  sort  of  mor- 
bid pleasure  in  presiding  at  the  trial,  and  (what  under  him  was  pretty  sure  to 
follow)  the  conviction  of  persons  prosecuted  by  the  Government.  During  the 
fatal  and  blood-stained  year  of  1798,  he  was  Attorney-General,  and  had  the 
task  —  if  task  it  were  to  him  who  could  say  of  it,  "  The  duty  I  delight  in  physics 
pain" — of  conducting  the  State  Trials.  In  my  youth,  when  I  used  to  listen  to 
old  men's  tales  of  the  legal  tortures  and  butcheries  of  '98,  the  narrators  would 
tell  how  "  bloody  Toler"  (as  he  was  called)  sti-ained  every  point  against  pris- 
oners, how  he  would  insist  on  every  quirk  and  quibble  to  convict  them,  how  he 
would  browbeat  the  witnesses,  and  all  but  threaten  the  juries,  and  how  compla- 
cently, when  the  verdict  was  delivered,  he  would  insist  on  the  passing  of  a  sen- 
tence of  immediate  —  of  almost  instant  death.  Such  was  it,  in  the  case  of  the 
Sheareses,  mentioned  in  the  preceding  volume,  where  on  the  part  of  the  Crown, 
he  steridy  refused  their  counsel  the  slightest  pause  for  rest  and  thought,  after  the 
trial  had  already  lasted  sixteen  consecutive  hours  ;  when,  the  verdict  being  re- 
turned at  eight  in  the  morning,  he  had  the  doomed  brothers  brought  up  that 
same  afternoon,  for  judgrient ;  how  he  insisted  on  their  execution  taking  place 
the  next  morning ;  and  low  the  condemnation  was  literally  forced,  by  him,  on 
the  evidence  of  a  single  and  tainted  witness,  the  law  of  England  requiring  two 
to  establish  an  overt-ac:  of  high  treason.  Then,  too,  while  Lord  Norbiiry's 
name  was  uttered  w'th    'curses  both  loud   and   deep,"  I  used  to  hear  of  this 


emmett's  tkial.  15 

capable  of  ascending  beyond  the  level  of  ordinary  feeling  and 
discourse)  bis  spirit  was  strongly  roused,  and  bis  countenance, 
swelled  as  it  was  witb  passion,  and  stained  with  a  dark  red, 
became  tbe  image  of  bis  intellect  and  of  bis  sensibility.  His 
eyes  wers  inflamed  witb  a  ferocious  loyalty,  and  tbe  conscious- 
ness of  unbounded  power;  and  wbile  tbey  glared  on  tbe 
wretcbes  wbo  stood  pale  and  trembling  at  tbe  bar,  or  were 
fixed  in  defiance  on  tbe  counsel  for  tbe  prisoner,  assisted,  witb 

man's  inhuman  bearing  toward  Robert  Emmett  —  the  kindest,  most  chivahic, 
and  truest  man  that  ever  breathed;  who,  like  Lord  Edward  Fitzgerald,  might 
have  escaped,  but,  like  him,  declined  to  find  safety  in  flight,  leaving  other  and 
meaner  partners  in  the  revolt  to  face  the  peril  and  the  death-doom,  Emmett, 
from  the  first,  did  not  deny  his  conspiracy  against  the  English  misrule  which 
had  reduced  his  country'  from  independence  to  its  opposite  —  from  a  kingdom  to 
a  province.  All  through,  he  was  chiefly  anxious  to  show  that  he  never  contem- 
plated establishing  French  power  in  Ireland  —  of  substituting  one  tjTanny  for 
another.  In  the  speech  which  he  made,  after  conviction,  when  called  upon  to 
say  why  judgment  of  death  should  not  pass,  he  strongly  urged  this  :  —  "  Small, 
indeed,"  said  he,  "  would  be  our  claim  to  patriotism  and  sense,  and  palpable  our 
afifectation  of  the  love  of  liberty,  if  we  were  to  sell  our  countiy  to  a  people  who 
are  not  only  slaves  themselves,  but  the  unprincipled  and  abandoned  instruments 
of  imposing  slavery  on  others."  In  this  vindication  of  his  motives,  Emmett 
was  repeatedly  and  roughly  interrupted  by  Norbuiy.  Then  came  the  shai'p 
"You,  my  lord,  are  a  judge.  I  am  the  supposed  culprit.  I  am  a  man  —  you 
are  a  man  also.  By  a  revolution  of  power  w^e  might  change  places,  though 
we  never  could  change  characters."  And  then  the  defiance:  "There  are  men 
concerned  in  this  conspiracy  who  are  not  only  superior  to  me,  but  even  to  your 
own  conceptions  of  yourself,  my  lord  —  men  before  the  splendor  of  whose  genius 
and  virtues  I  should  bow  with  respectful  deference,  and  who  would  not  deign. 
to  call  you  friend  —  who  would  not  disgrace  themselves  by  shaking  your  blood- 
stained hand."  The  Government  of  that  day  suspected  that  thi'ee  noblemen  were 
in  this  conspiracy  —  one  of  whom,  on  what  suspicion  or  proof  is  unknown,  was 
the  late  Lord  Cloncurry,  who  was  arrested.  It  was  a  belief  in  Ireland,  from  the 
time  that  Robert  Emmett  was  executed,  that  Lord  Norbury  would  meet  a  doora 
as  tragical.  He  lived  on,  however,  like  the  Thane  of  Cawdor,  "  a  prosperous 
gentleman."  Boundless  wealth  filled  his  coffers.  Worldly  honors  crowded  upon 
him.  At  last  he  died.  But  the  Irish  remembered  how  the  sins  of  the  fathers 
are  visited  on  the  sons.  Eight  years  after  Lord  Norbury's  death,  his  succes- 
sor was  shot  on  his  own  demesne  of  Durrow  Abbey,  and,  to  this  hour,  there  has 
been  no  detection  of  the  assassin.  As  if  to  make  it  more  inexplicable,  the 
doomed  man  was  a  good  landlord  —  as  landlords  are  estimated  in  Ireland. 
He  was  neither  absentee,  nor  exacting,  nor  litigious.  He  was  simply  the 
representative  of  the  blood-stained  judge,  and  the  shaft  of  vengeance  fell  upon 
him.— M. 


16  LORD    NOEBURY. 

their  savage  glare,  the  canons  of  extermination  which  the 
orator  was  laying  clown.  A  certain  trick  of  expanding  his 
cheeks,  and  swelling  them  with  wind,  which  he  puffed  impor- 
tantly off,  set  off  his  tempestuous  adjurations,  and  made  him 
look  as  if  he  were  blowing  all  mercy  and  compunction  away. 
Thus  he  was  every  way  well  adapted  to  his  terrible  task. 

Nor  was  he  less  C[ualified,  when,  in  his  capacity  of  Solicitor- 
Greneral,  he  was  put  on  the  commission,  and  went  as  a  judge 
of  assize.  Much  of  the  same  demeanor  and  deportment  was 
preserved  on  the  bench,  where  the  red  robes  in  which  he  was 
arrayed  heightened  the  impression  which  his  face,  voice,  and 
figure,   were   calculated    to   produce.*     There   was,   however, 

*  Norbury's  personal  appearance  was  very  remarkable.  He  was  more  than 
eighty  when  I  first  saw  him,  and  resembled  a  caricatured  character  in  a  panto- 
mime rather  than  a  grave  judicial  personage.  Charles  Phillips  said  of  him 
that  "  the  chivalry  of  Quixote  was  incased  in  the  paunch  of  Sancho  Panza,"  but 
Chivalry  and  Norbuiy  were  antipodes,  not  synonymes.  He  had  a  sort  of  animal 
courage,  or  insensibility  to  danger,  but  was  innocent  of  the  gallant  delight 

"  Which  warriors  feel 
In  foemen  worthy  of  their  steel." 
He  was  nearly  as  bi'oad  as  he  Vt^as  long,  with  a  large  and  rubicund  face ;  small 
and  twinkling  eyes,  and  a  curious  expression  of  fe7Tet-like  keenness,  resulting, 
in  all  likelihood,  from  his  being  perpetually  on  the  watch  for  the  opportunity 
of  a  joke.  His  laugh  was  so  hearty  as  to  be  infectious.  Like  Hamlet,  he  was 
**  fat  and  scant  of  breath,"  and,  was  perpetually  puffing — like  an  asthmatic  lo- 
comotive. From  this,  though  resembling  the  German  civilian  in  nothing,  he 
had  obtained  the  soubriquet  of  Puffendoi-f.  On  the  bench,  he  would  jiant,  and 
pun,  and  puff,  chuckling  with  glee  at  the  laughter  he  created,  until,  as  the  fun 
came  faster  and  faster,  and  the  buffo  grew  hotter  and  hotter,  he  would  let  his 
judicial  robe  fall  from  his  shoulders,  shift  his  judicial  wig  to  obtain  ventilation, 
and  return  it  to  his  head,  with  the  tails,  most  probably,  hanging  before  instead 
of  behind  !  On  one  occasion,  Lady  Castlereagh  gave  a  fancy-ball,  at  which 
Lord  Norbury  appeared  as  Hawthorn,  in  "  Love  in  a  Village,"  and  was  extremely 
amusing.  His  dress  was  a  green  tabinet,  with  mother-of-pearl  buttons,  sti-iped 
yellow  and  black  vest,  and  black  breeches.  If  showy,  the  attire,  from  its  ma- 
terials, was  light.  When  Norbury  next  went  the  Circuit,  as  judge,  this  fancy- 
dress  found  its  way  into  one  of  his  travelling  trunks.  The  weather  was  warm 
the  sitting  of  the  Court  would  last  fur  seven  or  eight  hours,  the  dress  was  thin 
—  Norbury  donned  it,  and  covered  with  his  ample  judicial  robes,  no  one  could 
see  it.  By-and-by,  the  heat  became  almost  intolerable.  Norbury  gave  his  wig 
the  usual  twitch  to  the  side ;  then  he  turned  up  the  sleeves  of  his  robe  ;  next, 
he  loosened  the  girdle  which  confined  it  round  his  waist ;  and,  lastly,  when 
the  loosened  envelope  had  gradually  opened,  there  was  the  Chief  Justice  seaa 


INDIFFERENCE    FOR   LIFE.  17 

this  difference,  that  his  spirit  of  buffoonery  became  more  con- 
spicuous upon  the  bench.  It  should  not,  however,  be  too  has- 
tily concluded  that  his  love  of  drollery  in  any  degree  disquali- 
fied him  for  the  exercise  of  the  judicial  functions.  On  the 
contrary,  his  merits  as  a  jester  were  among  his  most  useful 
and  efficient  attributes  as  a  judge.  He  was  fanciful  or  tm-gid, 
just  as  the  occasion  required. 

In  his  addresses  to  the  jury,  he  was  as  SAvollen  with  exag- 
gerated loyalty  as  the  gravest  supporter  of  Protestant  Ascen- 
dency could  have  desired  ;  while  during  the  rest  of  the  trial, 
he  put  on  a  demeanor  of  heedless  hilarity,  which  indicated, the 
little  value  which  he  attached  to  the  life  of  an  insurgent,  and 
taught  the  populace  at  what  rate  human  breath  was  estimated 
in  his  court.  The  effect  of  the  tortures  of  Macbriar,  in  *'  Old 
Mortality,"  is  greatly  heightened  by  the  merriment  by  which 
the  Duke  of  Lauderdale  exclaims,  ''  He  will  make  an  old  prov- 
erb good,  for  he'll  scarce  ride  to-day,  though  he  has  had  his 
boots  on."  I  do  not,  however,  believe  that  the  indifference  for 
human  life  which  was  indicated  by  Lord  Korbury's  judicial 
mirth,  was  at  all  studied  or  systematic,  or  the  result  of  cruelty 
of  disposition.     He  is  naturally  of  a  gay  and  pleasant  cast  of 

in  his  Hawthorn  di-ess,  chuckling  ovei^  the  jokes  with  which  he  amused  himself 
and  the  Court  in  the  intervals  between  the  graver  business  of  sentencing  cul- 
prits to  be  hanged. —  He  was  usually  very  polite  to  prisoners.  On  one  occasion, 
when  he  had  to  sentence  half  a  dozen,  he  had  them  all  brought  up,  in  a  batch, 
and,  severally  naming  five  of  them,  pronounced  judgment  of  death.  An  officer 
of  the  Court  reminded  his  Lordship  that  he  had  missed  one.  The  convict  was 
sent  for.  "  My  good  man,"  said  Norbuiy,  blowing  like  a  grampus,  "  I've  made 
a  mistake  about  you,  and  I  really  must  beg  your  pardcn  [puff  puff'  puff],  I 
should  have  sentenced  you  with  the  rest  [puff]  and  quite  omitted  your  name 
[puff] — pray  excuse  me.  The  sentence  of  the  law  is  [puff]  that  you.  Darby 
Mahony  [puff]  —  I  really  wonder  how  I  came  to  pass  you  over  —  be  taken  hence 
to  prison, "and  fi'om  prison  to  the  place  of  execution  [puff]  and  there  hanged 
by  the  neck  until  you  are  dead  [puff]  —  I  do  hope  you  will  excuse  my  mistake  — 
and  may  the  Lord  [puff]  have  mercy  on  your  soul.  That's  all,  my  good  man 
[puff]  —  turnkey,  remove  Darby  Mahony."  The  victim  coolly  turned  round 
as  he  was  quitting  the  dock,  exclaiming,  "  Faith,  my  Lord,  I  can't  thank  you 
for  your  prayers,  for  I  never  heard  of  any  one  tliat  throve  after  your  making 
them!"  Norbmy,  who  relished  a  retort,  actually  granted  Darby  a  reprieve  be- 
fore leaving  the  assize-town,  and  successfully  recommended  him  for  a  commuta- 
tion of  punishment  on  his  return  to  Dublin. —  M. 


18  LORD   NORBURY. 

mind;  and  it  is,  I  fancy,  impossible  for  liim  to  keep  ludicrous 
notions  out.  It  is  also  but  justice  to  him  to  add,  tliat  liis  jokes 
were  not,  like  the  Duke  of  Lauderdale's,  at  the  expense  of  the 
prisoner,  who  stood  aghast  and  dismayed  before  him  ;  and  if 
they  showed  that  he  did  not  entertain  any  very  profound  sense 
of  the  awfulness  of  the  transition  to  another  state  of  existence, 
still,  as  they  were  not  directed  to  the  culprit  at  the  bar,  his 
witticisms  gave  no  indications  of  natural  savageness  of  heart, 
from  which  I  believe  him  to  be  Avholly  free.  His  imagination 
was  hurried  away  by  some  whimsical  idea,  and  the  moment  a 
grotesque  image  presented  itself,  or  a  fantastical  anecdote  was 
recalled  to  his  recollection,  he  could  not  keep  it  in,  but  let  it 
involuntarily  escape  upon  the  court. 

But  these  vagaries  did  not  render  the  administration  of  jus- 
tice in  his  hands  less  terrific;  and  while  he  himself  gave  way 
to  the  merriment  which  he  could  not  restrain,  the  countenances 
of  the  crowds  with  which  the  public  tribunals  were  filled,  in  their 
fearful  expression,  as  well  as  their  ghastly  color,  exhibited  an 
awful  contrast  Avith  his  own.  He  could,  indeed,  with  impunity 
indulge  in  these  judicial  antics  amid  the  assemblage  of  pallid 
wretches  by  whom  he  Avas  surrounded;  when  it  might  be  justly 
said,  in  reference  to  them  and  to  the  moral  expression  of  his 
visage  and  its  complexion,  "  Cu??i  tot  'pallorihus  si/JJiceret  scevus 
iste  vultus,  atque  rubor,  quo  se  contra  inidorem  'inu7iiehatP  In 
Lis  charges,  too,  he  made  ample  compensation  for  the  conun- 
drums with  Avhich  he  interrupted  the  examination  of  witnesses; 
for  he  threw  off  in  an  instant  the  character  of  a  jester,  resum- 
ed the  terrors  of  his  deep  and  denunciatiug  voice,  and  turning 
to  the  prisoners,  spoke  of  that  eternity  to  which  he  was  about 
to  despatch  them,  with  an  aAvfulness  and  solemnity  which  jus- 
tified Lord  Clare,  Avho  objected  to  his  being  created  a  Chief- 
Justice,  in  recommending  that  he  should  enter  the  church,  and 
be  made  a  bishop. 

The  proposition  that  those  brows,  on  which  the  black  cap 
had  been  so  frequently  and  so  conspicuously  display  >d,  should 
be  invested  Avith  a  mitre,  did  credit  to  Lord  Clare,  who,  Avith 
all  his  partiality  for  the  church,  Avas  more  solicitous  for  the 
dignity  of  the  judicial  than  the  episcopal  bench ;  and  had  his 


chief-justicp:  cauleton.  19 

suggestion  been  adopted,  Lord  Norbmy,  attired  in  laAvn,  would 
have  proved  an  agreeable  accession  to  tlie  Plouse  of  Lords,  and 
while  he  relieved  the  tedium  of  many  a  weary  debate  with  Lis 
pious  jokes  and  his  holy  merriment,  he  would  in  all  likelibood 
have  looked  as  appropriate  a  successor  of  the  apostles  as  their 
lordships  of  Ossory  or  Kilmore.  If  he  had  been  created  Aich- 
bishop  of  Dublin,  what  a  spirit  of  good  humor  would  have  been 
infused  into  our  polemics  ;  how  many  a  sacred  jest  would  have 
sparkled  in  his  jovial  and  laughter-stirring  homilies !  We 
should  have  been  spared  a  fierce  and  unprovoked  aggression  on 
the  religion  of  the  people,  and  should  never  have  seen  a  barb- 
ed and  envenomed  arrow  shot  from  behind  the  altar,  in  shape 
of  a  wanton  and  virulent  antithesis.  Lord  Norbury  officiating 
as  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  presents  a  pleasant  picture  to  the 
mind,  and  of  a  character  as  truly  Christian  as  the  reality 
affords. 

Unfortunately,  hoAvever,  Lord  Clare  was  overruled ;  and 
Lord  Norbury,  having  been  created  a  peer,  was  raised  to  tlte 
Chief-Justiceship  of  the  Common  Pleas,  on  the  resignation  of 
Lord  Carleton.*  For  some  time  the  terrors  Avhich  had  attend- 
ed him  during  the  rebellion,  continued  to  be  associated  with 
his  name  ;  but  at  length  the  recollections  of  the  civil  commotions 
in  which  he  had  played  so  remarkable  a  part,  began  to  subside 

*  Hugh  Carleton,  bom  at  Cork  in  1739,  was  called  to  the  Irish  bar  after 
completing  his  education  at  Dublin  University.  He  had  little  success  for  some 
years,  but  rose  to  the  office  of  Solicitor-General  in  1779,  which  he  retained 
until  the  appointment  of  the  Duke  of  Portland,  as  Viceroy.  He  was  made 
Chief-Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas,  in  1787  ;  ci-eated  Baron  Carleton  in  1789, 
and  raised  to  the  rank  of  Viscount  in  1797.  After  the  Union,  and  when  lie  had 
quitted  the  judicial  bench,  Lord  Carleton  sat  in  the  Imperial  Parliament,  as 
one  of  the  Irish  Representative  peers.  He  was  very  unpopular  in  Ireland  — 
chiefly  owing  to  his  harsh  conduct  toward  the  Sheareses,  in  1798,  when  presi- 
ding at  their  trial,  as  previously  related  in  page  99  of  first  volume.  He  allowed 
them  nothing  like  fair  play  in  compelling  their  advocate,  Mr.  Cun-an,  to  enter 
on  their  defence,  at  midnight,  after  the  trial  had  already  lasted  sixteen  hours. 
In  1803,  during  Emmett's  insuiTection,  when  the  populace  met  the  carnage  of 
Lord  Kilwarden,  Chief-Justice  of  the  Queen's  Bench,  who  was  rather  popular, 
he  was  mistaken  for  Carleton,  Chief-Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas,  and  liter- 
ally killed  by  mistake.  Lord  Carleton  had  such  a  melancholy  aspect  and  lu- 
gubrious manner  that  Curran  declared  him  to  be  plaintiff  (plaintive)  in  every 
case  that  came  before  him. —  M. 


20  LOED    NOKBURY. 

— his  energy  in  tlie  canse  of  government  was  forgotten  — none 
but  the  ridiculous  points  of  his  character  stood  out  in  any  very 
considerable  prominence,  and  he  lost  even  that  species  of  re- 
spect which  results  from  fear. 

He  was  Chief-Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas  from  the  year 
1800,  and  diligently  employed  the  whole  of  that  period  in 
earning  the  reputation  which  he  at  length  succeeded  in  estab- 
lishing through  the  empire.  "Lord  Norbury's  last  joke"  has 
long  been  the  ordinary  title  to  a  pleasant  paragraph  in  the 
English  newspapers  :*  but  it  is  right  to  add,  in  his  vindication, 

*  A  vast  number  of  puns,  each  paragraphed  as  "  Lord  Norbury's  Last,"  ap- 
peared in  the  Lish  newspapers  in  his  lifetime.  Every  editor  M'ho  made  a  joke 
sent  it  upon  the  world  as  one  of  the  Norbury  family.  His  own  jests  were  bet- 
ter than  most  of  the  imitations.  A  man  of  his  rank  was  tried  before  him  for 
arson,  and  acquitted.  The  populace  shrewdly  gave  the  name  of  "  Moscow"  to 
the  ruins  of  his  house.  Norbury  met  him  soon  after,  at  a  Castle  levee.  "  Glad 
to  meet  you  Acre,"  said  the  judge.  "  This  is  my  last  bachelor's  visit,  my  lord: 
I  am  going  to  turn  Benedict."  Norbuiy  looked  him  full  in  the  face  while  he 
responded,  "Ay,  St.  Paul  says  better  maiTy  than  burn.^^  —  When  giving  judg- 
ment on  a  writ  of  right,  he  declared  that  it  was  insufficient  for  a  demandant 
to  say  he  "claimed  by  descent.  Such  an  answer,"  he  continued,  "would  be 
a  shrewd  one  for  a  sweep,  who  had  entered  your  house,  by  getting  down  the 
chimney;  and  it  would  be  an  easy,  as  well  as  a  sweeping  way,  of  getting  in." — 
A  marine  officer  having  canvassed  for  a  directorship  in  the  National  Assurance 
Company  of  Leland  (there  really  toas  such  a  body!)  Lord  Norbui'y  stated  that 
he  was  very  eligible,  no  doubt,  from  his  experience  in  marine  risks,  his  having 
received  premiums  for  taking  lives,  and  for  having  himself  escaped  all  dam- 
ages from  fire,  though  following  a  profession  doubly  hazardous  ;  "  but,"  he 
added,  "  inasmuch  as  the  Captain  does  not  hold  the  requisite  number  of  shares 
to  qualify  him,  it  is  clear  that  his  want  of  a  sufficient  stock  of  assurance  is  an 
insurmountable  bar  to  his  election." — At  Naas,  on  circuit,  when  a  Counsel  was 
making  a  speech,  an  ass  brayed  very  loudly  outside,  "  One  at  a  time,  g^afle- 
men,  if  you  please,"  said  Norbmy.  Soon  after,  while  his  Lordship  was  ad- 
dressing the  jury,  the  same  long-eared  quadruped  again  began  to  give  tongue. 
"  What  noise  is  that  ?"  The  counsel  retorted,  "  Only  the  echo  of  the  Court,  my 
Lord  !" — The  L-ish  had  great  faith  in  Edmund  Burke's  patriotism,  which  had 
supported  what  was  called  "  The  Independence  of  Ireland,"  viz.,  when  the 
army  of  Volunteers,  associated  in  1779,  compelled  the  British  Ministry  to  re- 
peal the  Statute  of  the  sixth  of  George  I.,  declaring  that  Ireland  was  bound  by 
British  acts  of  Parliament,  if  named  therein,  that  the  Irish  House  of  Lords  had 
no  jurisdiction  in  Irish  cases  of  appeal ;  and  that  the  dernier  ressort,  in  all  cases, 
must  be  to  the  peers  of  Great  Britain.  Burke  s  son,  Richard,  was  appointed 
on  a  large  salary,  to  get  up  the  petition  to  the  Irish  Parliament,  from  the  Irish 


HIS    BUFFO    PERFORMERS.  21 

tliat  much  lias  been  attributed  to  Lim  wliicli  does  not  belong 
to  him ;  and  many  a  dealer  in  illegitimate  wit,  who  was 
ashamed  of  acknowledging  his  own  productions,  laid  his  spu- 
rious offspring  at  his  lordship's  door. 

As  he  so  essentially  contributed  to  the  amusement  of  the 
public,  he  gradually  grew  into  the  general  favor,  and  was 
held  in  something  like  the  reverence  which  is  entertained  by 
the  upper  galleries  for  an  eminent  actor  of  farce.  His  per- 
formances at  Nisi  Prius  were  greatly  preferable,  in  the  decline 
of  the  Dublin  stage,  to  any  theatrical  exhibition;  and,  as  he* 
drew  exceedingly  full  houses,  Mr.  Jones  [patentee  of  Dublin 
Theatre]  began  to  look  at  him  with  some  jealousy,  and  is  said 
to  have  been  advised  by  Mr.  Sergeant  Goold,  who  had  a  share 
of  <£3565  5s.  6jd.  in  Crow-street  Theatre,  to  file  a  bill  for  an 
injunction  against  the  Chief-Justice,  for  an  infringement  of  his 
patent.  Lord  Norbury  was  at  the  head  of  an  excellent  com- 
pany. The  spirit  of  the  judge  extended  itself  natin*ally 
enough  to  the  counsel ;  and  men  who  were  grave  and  consid- 

Catholics.  Ignorant  or  regardless  of  the  rules  of  the  House  of  Commons,  young 
Burke  determined,  to  present  the  petition  himself,  and  in  the  body  not  at  the 
bar  of  the  House.  He  had  reached  the  Ti'easuiy  bench  before  he  was  per- 
ceived, and  cries  of  "  Privilege,"  and  a  "  A  stranger  in  the  House"  instantly 
arose.  The  Speaker  sonorously  called  on  the  sergeant-at-arms  to  do  his  duty. 
Dreading  arrest,  Burke  ran  toward  the  bar,  where  he  was  faced  by  the  sergeant 
with  a  drawn  sword ;  returning,  he  was  stopped,  at  the  table,  by  the  clerk.  A 
chase  ensued,  the  members  all  keeping  their  seats,  and,  at  last,  Burke  escaped 
behind  the  Speaker's  chair.  In  the  debate  which  ensued,  the  sergeant-at-arms 
was  blamed  for  not  having  arrested  Burke  at  the  back-door.  Sir  Boyle  Roche 
asked,  with  much  naive t6,  "  How  could  the  officer  stop  him  in  the  rear,  while 
he  was  catching  him  in  the  front?"  and  emphatically  declared  that  "no  man 
could  be  in  two  places  at  one  time  —  barring  he  was  a  bird!"  When  the 
laughter  at  this  had  subsided,  Noi'bury  (then  Mr.  Toler)  said  "A  few  daj's 
ago,  I  found  an  incident,  like  what  has  just  now  occurred,  in  the  cross-read- 
ings of  the  columns  of  a  newspaper.  *  Yesterday  a  petition  was  presented  to 
the  House  of  Commons  —  it  fortunately  missed  fii-e  and  the  villain  ran  off.'  " 
This  renewed  the  mirth,  and  no  further  notice  was  taken  of  Burke's  escapade. 
I  give  the  sally,  to  show  how  near  to  the  confines  of  wit  was  the  apt  readiness 
of  Norbury's  humor. —  He  had  his  joke  to  the  very  last.  His  neighbor,  Lord 
Erne,  was  far  advanced  in  years  and  bedridden.  When  his  own  health  failed, 
he  heard  of  his  friend's  increased  illness.  "  James,"  said  he  to  his  servant, 
"  go  next  door,  and  tell  Lord  Enie,  with  my  compliments,  that  it  will  be  a 
dead-heat  between  us." — -M 


22  LORD   NORBURY. 

erate  everywhere  else,  threw  off  all  soberness  and  propriety, 
and  became  infected  with  the  habits  of  the  venerable  manager 
of  the  court,  the  moment  they  entered  the  Common  Pleas. 
His  principal  performers  were  Messrs.  Grady,  Wallace,  O'Con- 
nell,  and  Goold,  who  instituted  a  sort  of  rivalry  in  uproar,  and 
played  against  each  other. 

With  such  a  judge,  and  such  auxiliaries  to  co-operate  with 
him,  some  idea  mRj  be  formed  of  the  attractions  which  were 
held  out  to  that  numerous  class  who  have  no  fixed  occupation, 
and  by  whom,  in  the  hope  of  laughing  hunger  away,  the  Four 
Courts  are  frequented  in  Dublin.  Long  before  Lord  Norbury 
took  his  seat,  the  galleries  were  densely  filled  with  faces 
strangely  expressive  of  idleness,  haggardness,  and  humor.  At 
about  eleven  his  Lordship's  registrar,  Mr.  Peter  Jackson,  used 
to  slide  in  with  an  official  leer ;  and  a  little  after  Lord  Norbury 
entered  with  a  grotesque  Avaddle,  and,  having  bowed  to  the 
Bar,  cast  his  eyes  round  the  court.  Perceiving  a  full  house,  an 
obvious  expression  of  satisfaction  pervaded  his  countenance ; 
and  if  he  saw  any  of  his  acquaintance  of  a  noble  family,  such  as 
John  Claudius  Beresford,  Avho  had  a  good  deal  of  time  on  his 
hands,  in  the  crowd,  he  ordered  the  tipstaff  to  make  way  for 
him,  and,  in  order,  I  presume,  to  add  to  the  dignity  of  the  pro- 
ceedings, placed  him  beside  himself  on  the  bench. 

While  the  jury  were  swearing,  he  either  nodded  familiarly 
to  most  of  them,  occasionally  observing,  "  A  most  respectable 
man ;"  or,  if  the  above-mentioned  celebrated  member  of  the 
house  of  Curraghmore*  chanced  to  be  next  him,  was  engaged 
in  so  pleasant  a  vein  of  whispering,  that  it  was  conjectured, 
from  the  heartiness  of  his  laugh,  that  he  must  have  been  talk- 
ing of  the  recreations  of  the  E-iding-house,  and  the  amusements 
of  1798.t  The  junior  counsel  having  opened  the  pleadings, 
Lord  Norbury  generally  exclaimed,  "  A  very  promising  young 
man !  Jackson,  what  is  that  young  gentleman's  name  1" — 
"Mr. ,  my  Lord." — ''What,  of  the  county   of  Cork? — I 

*  Curraghmoi-e,  in  the  Coimty  of  Waterford.  is  the  seat  of  the  Marquis  of 
Waterford,  head  of  the  Beresford  family. —  M. 

t  The  Riding-house  was  a  place  in  Dublin,  where  Beresford  used  to  liavo 
suspected  "i-ebels  '  flogged,  with  cruelty,  to  torture  them  into  "loyalty."  —  M 


HENRY   DEANE   GRADY.  23 

knew  it  by  his  air.  Sir,  you  are  a  gentleman  of  very  high 
pretensions,  and  I  protest  that  I  have  never  heard  the  many 
counts  stated  in  a  more  dignified  manner  in  all  my  life :  I 
hope  I  shall  find  you,  like  the  paper  before  me,  a  Daily  Free- 
man in  my  court."  Having  despatched  the  junior,  whom  he 
was  sure  to  make  the  luckless,  but  sometimes  not  inappropriate 
victim  of  his  encomiums,  he  suffered  the  leading  counsel  to 
proceed. 

As  he  was  considered  to  have  a  strong  bias  toward  the 
plaintiff,  experimental  attorneys  brought  into  the  Common 
Pleas  the  very  worst  and  most  discreditable  adA^entures  in 
litigation.  The  statement  of  the  case,  therefore,  generally 
disclosed  some  paltry  ground  of  action,  which,  however,  did 
not  prevent  his  Lordship  from  exclaiming  in  the  outset,  "A 
very  important  action  indeed  !  If  you  ma-ke  out  jour  facts  in 
evidence,  Mr.  Wallace,  there  will  be  serious  matter  for  the 
jury."  The  evidence  was  then  produced  ;  and  the  witnesses 
often  consisted  of  wretches  vomited  out  of  stews  and  cellars, 
whose  emaciated  and  discolored  countenances  showed  their 
want  and  their  depravity,  while  their  watchful  and  working 
eyes  intimated  that  mixture  of  sagacity  and  humor  by  which 
the  lower  order  of  Irish  attestators  is  distinguished.  -They 
generally  appeared  in  coats  and  breeches,  the  external  decency 
of  which,  as  they  were  hired  for  the  occasion,  was  ludicrously 
contrasted  with  the  ragged  and  filthy  shirt,  which  Mr.  Henry 
Deane  Grady,  Avho  was  well  acquainted  with  "  the  inner  man" 
of  an  Irish  witness,  though  not  without  repeated  injunctions  to 
unbutton,  at  last  compelled  them  to  disclose. 

The  cross-examinations  of  this  gentleman  were  admirable 
pieces  of  the  most  serviceable  and  dexterous  extravagance. 
He  was  the  Scarron  of  the  Bar ;  and  few  of  the  most  practised 
and  skilful  of  the  horde  of  perjurers  whom  he  was  employed 
to  encounter,  could  successfully  withstand  the  exceedingly 
droll  and  comical  scrutiny  through  which  he  forced  them  to 
pass.  He  had  a  sort  of  "  Hail  fellow,  well  met !"  manner  with 
every  varlet,  which  enabled  him  to  get  into  his  heart  and  core, 
until  he  had  completely  turned  him  inside  out,  and  excited 
such  a  spirit  of  mirth,  that  the  knave  whom  he  was  uncovering. 


24  LORD    NOKBURY. 

could  not  help  joining  in  the  merriment  wliicli  the  detectiou 
of  his  villany  had  produced. 

Lord  Norbury,  however,  Avhen  lie  saw  Mr.  Grady  pushing 
the  plaintiff  to  extremities,  used  to  come  to  his  aid,  and  rally 
the  broken  recollections  of  the  witness.  This  interposition 
called  the  defendant's  counsel  into  stronger  action,  and  they 
were  as  vigorously  encountered  by  the  counsel  on  the  other 
side.  Interruption  created  remonstrance  ;  remonstrance  called 
forth  retort ;  retort  generated  sarcasm ;  and  at  length  voices 
were  raised  so  loud,  and  the  blood  of  the  forensic  combatants 
was  so  warmed,  that  a  general  scene  of  confusion,  to  which 
Lord  Norbury  most  amply  contributed,  took  place. 

The  uproar  gradually  increased  till  it  became  tremendous ; 
and,  to  add  to  the  tumult,  a  question  of  law,  wdiich  threw 
Lord  Norbury's  faculties  into  complete  chaos,  was  thrown  into 
the  conflict.  Mr.  Grady  and  Mr.  O'Connell  shouted  upon  one 
side,  Mr.  Wallace  and  Mr.  Goold  upon  the  other,  and  at  last. 
Lord  Norbury,  the  witnesses,  the  counsel,  the  parties,  and  the 
audience,  were  involved  in  one  universal  riot,- in  which  it  was 
difficult  to  determine  whether  the  laughter  of  the  audience,  the 
exclamations  of  the  parties,  the  protestations  of  the  witnesses, 
the  cries  of  the  counsel,  or  the  bellowing  of  Lord  Norbury, 
predominated.  At  length,  however,  his  Lordship's  superiority 
of  lungs  prevailed ;  and,  like  ^olus  in  his  cavern  (of  whom, 
with  his  puffed  cheeks  and  inflamed  visage,  he  would  furnish 
a  painter  with  a  model),  he  shouted  his  stormy  subjects  into 
peace.  These  scenes  repeatedly  occurred  during  the  trial, 
until  at  last  both  parties  had  closed,  and  a  new  exhibition  took 
place.  This  was  Lord  Norbury's  monologue,  commonly  called 
a  charge. 

He  usually  began  by  pronouncing  the  loftiest  encomiums 
upon  the  party  in  the  action,  against  whom,  he  intended  to 
advise  the  jury  to  give  their  verdict.  For  this  the  audience 
were  well  prepared;  and  accordingly,  after  he  had  stated  that 
the  defendant  was  one  of  the  most  honorable  men  alive,  and 
that  he  knew  his  father,  and  loved  him,  he  suddenly  came, 
with  a  most  singular  emphasis,  which  he  accompanied  with  a 
strange  shake  of  his  wig,  to  the  fatal  "  but,"  which  made  the 


TOBY   M'OORMICK.  25 

audience,  wlio  were  iu  expectation  of  it,  burst  into  a  fit  of 
laughter,  wliile  he  proceeded  to  charge,  as  he  almost  uniformly 
did,  in  the  plaintijBTs  favor.  He  then  entered  more  deeply,  as 
he  said,  into  the  case,  and,  flinging  his  judicial  robe  half  aside, 
and  sometimes  casting  off  his  wig,  started  from  his  seat,  and 
threw  off  a  wild  harangue,  in  which  neither  law,  method,  nor 
argument,  could  be  discovered.  It  generally  consisted  of 
narratives  connected  with  the  history  of  his  early  life,  which 
it  was  impossible  to  associate  with  the  subject — of  jests  from 
Joe  Miller,  mixed  with  jokes  of  his  own  manufacture,  and  of 
sarcastic  allusions  to  any  of  the  counsel  who  had  endeavored 
to  check  him  during  the  trial.  He  was  exceedingly  fond  of 
quotations  from  Milton  and  Shakspere,  which,  however  out 
of  place,  were  very  well  delivered,  and  evinced  an  excellent 
enunciation.  At  the  conclusion  of  his  charge,  he  made  some 
efforts  to  call  the  attention  of  the  jury  to  any  leading  incident 
which  particularly  struck  him,  but  what  he  meant  it  was  not 
very  easy  to  conjecture ;  and  when  he  sat  down,  the  whole 
performance  exhibited  a  mind  which  resembled  a  whirlpool  of 
mud,  in  which  law,  facts,  arguments,  and  evidence,  were  lost 
in  unfathomable  confusion. 

Some  years  ago,  I  remember,  at  the  close  of  his  charges  a 
ludicrous  incident,  which  was  a  kind  of  practical  commentary, 
sometimes  took  place.  A  poor  maniac,  well  known  about  the 
Hall,  whose  name  was  "  Toby  M'Oormick,"  had  been  a  suitor 
in  the  Common  Pleas,  and  had  lost  his  senses  in  consequence 
of  the  loss  of  his  cause".  He  regularly  used  to  attend  the  court, 
to  which  he  was  attracted  by  an  odd  fantasy  : — Toby  had  got  it 
into  his  head  that  he  was  Lord  Norbury  himself,  having  merged 
all  consciousness  of  his  own  separate  being  in  the  strong  image 
of  his  Lordship  which  was  constantly  present  to  his  mind, 
while,  upon  the  other  hand,  he  took  Lord  Norbury  for  "  Toby 
M'Oormick;"  believing  that  they  had  made  a  swap  of  their 
personal  identities,  and  exchanged  their  existence.  This 
strange  madman,  at  the  end  of  Lord  Norbury's  charges,  used 
to  cry  out,  with  some  imitation  of  his  manner,  "  Find  for  the 
plaintiff!"  and  though  not  intended  as  a  sarcasm  upon  his 
habits,  yet  it  was  so  just  a  satire  that  Lord  Norbury  was  half 

Vol.  II.— 2 


26  LOED    NORBUKY. 

displeased,  and,  turning  to  Peter  Jackson,  exclaimed,  "Jack- 
son, turn  Toby  M'Cormick  out  of  court !" 

I  feel  that,  in  the  portrait  Avliicli  I  have  endeavored  to  draw 
of  the  late  Chief- Justice  of  the  Irish  Common  Pleas  in  presi- 
ding at  the  Nisi-Prius  sittings,  I  have  not  at  all  come  up  to  my 
original.  But  to  describe  him  in  such  a  way  as  to  match  the 
reality,  would  be,  perhaps,  impossible.  To  conceive  what  he 
was,  and  his  stupendous  extravagances,  it  would  have  been 
necessary  to  see  the  "  Oripiov  avTo,^'  and  have  witnessed  the  prodigy 
itself.  It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say,  that  as  the  wildest  farce 
upon  the  stage  never  raised  more  laughter  than  his  exhibitions 
from  the  bench,  neither  could  any  writer  of  dramatic  drolleries, 
who  should  undertake  to  draw  him,  embody  the  substantial 
absurdity  of  his  character  in  any  fictitious  representation.  He 
might  have  defied  O'Keeffe  himself;  for  although  his  law  was 
like  Lingo's  Latin,  yet  I  do  not  think  that  even  O'Keeffe's 
genius  for  extravagance  could  have  done  Lord  Norbury  justice. 

In  his  capacity  of  Judge,  sitting  in  full  court,  with  his  three 
coadjutors  about  him,  he  was  almost  as  ludicrous  as  in  his 
more  tumultuous  office  of  jester  at  Nisi  Prius.*     I  remember 

*  A  few  of  Lord  Norbui'y's  jests,  which  are  not  in  general  currency,  may  be 
worth  mentioning  here. —  Sir  Philip  Crampton  (father  of  the  present  British 
Minister  at  Washington)  was  a  remarkably  fine-looking  man,  tall  in  stature, 
erect  in  carriage,  elegant  in  manner,  graceful  in  movement.  In  1824,  when 
George  IV.  visited 

"  The  emerald  set  in  the  ring  of  the  sea," 
Sir  Philip  was  Surgeon-General  of  Ireland,  which  high  position  he  retains.  Al 
the  King's  Levee,  he  appeared  in  the  rich  military  unifonn  of  Surgeon-General. 
The  monarch  was  immediately  struck  with  his  appearance,  and,  turning  round 
to  Lord  Norbury,  who  stood  by  his  side,  rubicund  and  burly,  asked,  *'  Who  ig 
this  very  handsome  officer?"  With  the  merry  twinkle  of  his  eyes  which 
always  accompanied  Norbury's  jokes,  he  answered,  "  May  it  please  your  Majes- 
ty, he  is  General  of  the  Lancers.^^ — Lord  Norbury  was  in  Tippe:ary  taking 
what  he  used  to  call  his  health  ride.  One  of  the  county  gentlemen,  a  Mr.  Pep- 
per, joined  him,  but  this  deponent  saith  not  whether  he  was  mounted  on  "  The 
White  Horse  of  the  Peppers."  His  steed,  however,  was  handsome  and  spir- 
ited, and  Norbury  (who  was  an  excellent  ludge  —  of  horse-flesh)  paid  him  somo 
compliments  on  the  animal.  "Has  plenty  of  life  —  eh?"  Mr.  Pepper  an- 
Bwered,  "  So  much,  that  he  tlii'ew  me  over  his  head,  the  othei  day." — "  Named 
him,  yet?"  Mr.  Pepper  said  that  he  had  not.  "  Why,  then,"  said  the  joker, 
"  considering  who  you  are,  and  how  he  has  served  you,  suppose  you  call  him 


JUDGE   MAYNE.  27 

when  the  court  presented,  in  his  person,  and  in  that  of  Judge 
Mayne,  a  most  amusing  and  laughable  contrast.  Never  was 
Rochefoucault's  maxim,  that  "  gravity  is  a  mystery  of  the  body 
to  hide  the  defects  of  the  mind,"  more  strongly  exemplified 
than  in  the  solemn  figure  which  sat  for  many  years  on  Lord 
Norbury's  left  hand,  in  his  administration  of  the  law.  By  the 
profound  stagnation  of  his  calm  and  imperturbable  visage. 
which  improved  on  Gratiano's  description  of  a  grave  man,  and 
not  more  in  stillness  than  in  color  resembled  "  a  standing 
pool;"  by  a  certain  shake  of  his  head,  which,  moving  with  the 
mechanical  oscillation  of  a  wooden  mandarin,  made  him  look 
like  the  image  of  Confucius  which  is  plastered  on  the  dome  of 
the  Four  Courts;  by  his  long  and  measured  sentences,  which 
issued  in  tones  of  oracular  wisdom  from  his  dry  and  ashy  lips ; 

Pepper-caster  J' ^ — Going  to  a  Levee  at  Dublin  Castle,  with  another  of  the  judg- 
es, they  slipped  when  ascending  the  staii'S.  **  Oh,  my  Lord,"  said  Norbury, 
as  he  rubbed  the  broadest  part  of  his  person,  which  had  been  barked  by  the 
fall,  "  you  and  I  have  tried  many  cases  in  our  time,  but  the  Ikirdest  case  of  all 
is  this  staircase.^^ — In  1816,  when  Prince  Leopold,  who  was  only  a  Serene 
Highness  (as  only  the  son  of  a  King  can  be  addressed  as  Royal)  was  about 
marrying  the  Princess  Charlotte  of  Wales,  he  was  complimented  by  her  father, 
then  Prince  Regent  of  England,  with  the  title  of  "  Royal  Highness,"  This 
was  spoken  of  before  Lord  Norbury,  who  remarked  that  "  Marriage  was  the 
true  way  of  making  a  man  lose  his  serenity.^'' — A  quaker  named  Nott  opened  a 
large  shop,  exactly  opposite  that  of  Kinahan,  the  well-known  Dublin  grocer, 
advertised  his  tea  as  cheaper  and  better  than  any  in  Ireland,  and  declared  that 
he  would  not  vend  any  sugar,  as  it  yielded  no  profit.  The  novelty  of  the  con- 
cern and  the  excellence  and  low  price  of  Nott's  tea  and  coffee  drew  many  cus- 
tomers to  him  and  diminished  the  sales  of  Kinahan,  his  vis-a-vis  neighbor. 
Lord  Norbury  went  to  the  Quaker's,  bought  fourteen  pounds  of  tea  (on  which 
the  profit  was  large),  and  crossed  over  to  Kinahan's,  where  he  asked  for  a  sup- 
ply of  sugar,  on  which  the  profits  are  or  were  nominal.  While  Kinahan  was 
having  the  sugar  weighed,  N»tt's  porter  entered  the  shop  with  the  large  parcel 
of  tea  for  Lord  Norbury.  "  Leave  it  there,  on  the  counter,"  said  my  Lord. 
Then,  turning  to  Kinahan  who  was  dismayed  at  seeing  one  of  his  oldest  and 
best  customers  a  purchaser  at  his  rival's,  Norbury  said,  "  I  suppose,  Mr.  Kina- 
han, that  you  sell  a  great  deal  of  sugar  — by  Nott  selling  tea^ — Some  thirty- 
five  years  ago,  a  lusty  negro  wench,  who  was  called  *'  The  Hottentot  Venus," 
was  publicly  exhibited  in  Ireland,  on  account  of  the  remarkable  size  of  her 
"  Western  Settlements."  "  I  wonder,"  said  Bushe,  "  whether  she  really  was 
a  Queen  in  her  own  country  —  as  she  boasts."  Norbury  answered,  "  No  doubt: 
an  ebony  ruler,  of  course." — M. 


28  LORD   NOKBURY. 

by  his  slow  and  even  gait,  and  Lis  systematic  and  regulated 
gesture,  Judge  Mayne  had  contrived,  when  at  the  bar,  to 
impose  himself  as  a  great  lawyer  on  the  public.  When  he 
was  made  a  judge,  upon  the  day  on  which  he  for  the  first  time 
took  his  seat,  Mr  Keller,  one  of  his  contemporaries,  and  a 
bitter  wag,  came  into  court,  and  seeing  him  enthroned  in  bis 
dignity,  with  his  scarlet  robes  about  him,  leaned  over  the  bar 
bench,  and,  after  musing  for  some  time,  while  he  stretched  out 
his  shreAvd  sardonic  face,  muttered  to  himself,  "  Well,  Mayne, 
there  you  are  ! — there  you  have  been  raised  by  your  gravity, 
while  my  levity  still  sinks  me  here." 

This  pragmatical  personage,  who  was  considered  deep, 
while  he  was  only  dark  and  muddy,  was  fixed,  as  if  for  the 
purposes  of  contrast,  beside  Lord  Norbury,  but  so  far  from 
diminishing  the  effect  of  his  judicial  drolleries,  the  vapid  mel- 
ancholy of  the  one  brought  the  vivacity  of  his  companion  into 
stronger  light.  In  truth,  the  solemnity  of  Judge  Mayne  was 
nearly  as  comical  as  Lord  Norbury's  humor;  and  when,  seeing 
a  man  enter  the  court  who  had  forgotten  to  uncover.  Judge 
Mayne  rose  and  said,  "  I  see  you  standing  there  like  a  wild 
beast,  with  your  hat  on," — the  pomp  of  utterance,  and  the 
measured  dignity  with  which  this  splendid  figure  in  L'ish 
oratory  was  enunciated,  excited  nearly  as  much  merriment  as 
the  purposed  jokes  and  the  ostentatious  merriment  of  the  chief 
of  the  court. 

Nothing,  not  even  Lord  Norbury,  could  induce  his  brother 
judge  to  smile.  His  features  seemed  to  have  some  inherent 
and  natural  incompatibility  with  laughter,  which  the  Momus 
of  the  bench  could  not  remove.  While  peals  rang  upon  peals 
of  merriment,  and  men  were  obliged  to  hold  their  sides,  lest 
they  should  burst  with  excess  of  ridicule,  Judge  Mayne  stood 
silent,  starch,  and  composed,  and  never  allowed  his  muscles  of 
rusty  iron  to  give  way  in  any  unmeet  and  extra-judicial  relax- 
ation. This  union  of  the  Allegro  and  Penseroso  was  invalua- 
ble to  the  seekers  of  fun  in  the  Common  Pleas,  and  it  was 
with  regret  that  the  merry  public  were  informed  that  Judge 
Mayne  had  been  advised  by  his  physicians  to  retire  from  the 
bench   and  take  up  his  residence  in   France.      He  went,  I 


JUDGE   JOHNSON.  29 

understand,  to  Paris,  where  he  used  occasionally  to  walk,  in  the 
brilliant  afternoons  of  that  enchanting  cliniate,  in  the  garden 
of  the  Tuileries,  and,  Scott's  Quentin  Dnrward  being  then  in 
vogue.  Judge  Mayne  was  taken  for  the  spectre  of  Trois  Echelles 
The  place  of  Judge  Mayne  was  latterly  supplied  by  a  very 
able  man  and  an  excellent  lawyer,  Mr.  Justice  Johnson ;  and 
then  a  scene  of  a  different  character,  but  still  exceedingly  amu- 
sing, was  afforded.  Lord  Norbury  was  now  most  unhappily 
situated,  for  he  had  Judge  Fletcher  upon  one  hand  and  Judge 
Johnson  upon  the  other.  The  former  was  a  man  of  an  uncom- 
monly vigorous  and  brawny  mind,  with  a  rude  but  powerful 
grasp  of  thought,  and  with,  considerable  acquirements,  both  in 
literature  and  in  his  profession.  He  was  destitute  of  all  ele- 
gance, either  mental  or  external,  but  made  up  for  the  deficiency 
by  the  massive  and  robust  character  of  his  understanding.  He 
had  been  a  devoted  Whig  at  the  bar,  and  hated  Lord  Norbury 
for  his  politics,  while  he  held  his  intellect  in  contempt.  Dis- 
simulation was  not  among  his  attributes ;  and,  as  his  indifferent 
health  produced  a  great  infirmity  of  temper  (for  he  was  the 
converse  of  what  a  Frenchman  defines  as  a  happy  man,  and 
had  a  bad  stomach  and  a  good  heart),  he  was  at  no  pains  in 
concealing  his  disrelish  for  his  brother  on  the  bench.  Judge 
Johnson,  who  occupied  the  seat  on  Lord  Norbury *s  left  hand, 
completed  his  misfortunes  in  juxtaposition.  There  is  nothing 
whatever  about  Judge  Johnson  to  be  laughed  at,  although  his 
bursts  of  temperament  may  sometimes  prevoke  a  smile ;  but, 
in  adding  to  Lord  Norbury's  calamities,  he  augmented  the  di- 
versions of  the  court.  He  was  less  habitually  atrabilious 
than  Judge  Fletcher,*  whose  characteristic  was  moroseness 

*  In  the  rampant  times  of  "  Protestant  Ascendency  in  Church  and  State," 
when  the  government  policy  was  to  report  Ireland  in  a  state  of  insun-ectionary 
feeling,  and  within  a  hair's-breadth  of  actual  rebellions  (so  as  to  justify 
coercive  Acts  of  Parliament,  with  which  to  keep  the  people  quiet),  Judge 
Fletcher  gave  immense  offence  to  the  ruling  powers  by  his  charges  to  Gi-and 
Juries,  on  Circuit,  in  which  he  always  stated,  that  if  they  were  rightly  governed 
the  Irish  would  be  as  well  conducted  as  any  people  on  earth.  He  used  to  tell 
the  country-gentlemen,  too,  that  whenever  a  county,  or  a  district,  became  dis- 
turbed, the  great  probability  was  that  the  landlords'  oppressions  (though  middle- 
men) or  neglect  of  duty  caused  the  evil.  —  M. 


80  LORD    NOEBURY. 

rather  than  irritability,  but  he  had  an  honest  vehemence  and 
impetuosity  about  him,  which,  whenever  his  sense  of  propriety 
was  violated,  he  could  not  restrain. 

When  the  Chief-Justice,  who  was  thus  disastrously  placed, 
was  giving  judgment  (if  the  olla-podrida  which  he  served  up 
for  the  general  entertainment  can  be  so  called),  the  spectacle 
derived  from  the  aspect  of  his  brother-judges  furnished  a  vast 
accession  of  amusement.  Judge  Fletcher,  indignant  at  all  the 
absurdity  which  was  thrown  up  by  Lord  Norbury,  and  which 
bespattered  the  bench,  began  expressing  his  disgust  by  the 
character  of  bilious  severity  which  spread  over  his  countenance, 
of  which  the  main  characteristic  was  a  fierce  sourness  and  a 
scornful  discontent.  Judge  Johnson,  on  the  other  hand,  en- 
deavored to  conceal  his  anger,  and,  placing  his  elbows  on  the 
bench,  and  thrusting  his  clinched  hands  upon  his  mouth,  tried 
to  stifle  the  indignation,  with  which,  however,  it  was  obvious 
that  he  was  beginning  to  tumefy.  After  a  little  while,  a  growl 
was  heard  from  Judge  Fletcher,  Avhile  Judge  Johnson  respond- 
ed with  a  groan.  But,  undeterred  by  any  such  gentle  admo- 
nition, their  incomparable  brother,  with  a  desperate  intrepidity, 
held  on  his  way. 

Judge  Fletcher  had  a  habit,  when  exceedingly  displeased, 
of  rocking  himself  in  his  seat;  and,  as  he  was  of  a  considera- 
ble bulk,  his  swinging,  which  was  known  to  be  an  intimation 
of  his  augmenting  anger,  was  familiar  to  the  bar.  As  Lord 
Norbury  advanced,  the  oscillations,  accompanied  with  a  deeper 
growling,  described  a  greater  segment  of  a  circle,  and  shook 
the  whole  bench  ;  while  Judge  Johnson,  with  his  shaggy  brows 
bent  and  contracted  over  his  face,  and  with  his  eyes  flashing 
with  passion,  used,  with  an  occasional  exclamation  of  mingled 
indignation  and  disgust,  to  turn  himself  violently  round.  Still, 
on  Lord  Norbury  went ;  until  at  length,  Judge  Fletcher,  by 
his  pendulous  vibrations,  came  into  actual  collision  with  him 
upon  one  side,  and  Judge  Johnson,  by  his  averted  shrug,  hit 
him  on  the  shoulder  upon  the  other;  when,  awakened  by  the 
simultaneous  shock,  his  Lordship  gave  a  start,  and,  looking 
round  the  bar,  who  were  roaring  with  laughter  at  tlie  whole 
proceeding,  discharged  two  or  three  puff's ;  and,  felicitating  hig 


A8   A   POLITICIAN.  31 

brothers  on  their  urbanity  and  good  manners,  in  revenge  for 
their  contumelious  estimate  of  his  talents,  generally  called  on 
the  tipstaff  to  bring  him  a  judicial  convenience,  and,  turning  to 
the  wall  of  the  court,  retaliated  from  the  bench  for  the  asper- 
sions which  they  had  cast  upon  him.  From  one  of  these  two 
formidable  commentators  he  was  latterly  relieved,  and  although 
Judge  Johnson  remained  beside  him,  still,  in  the  absence  of 
Judge  Fletcher  as  an  auxiliary,  he  became  latterly  somewhat 
mitigated  ;  while  Judge  Moore,  during  the  Chief-Justice's  legal 
expositions,  did  no  more  than  intimate  his  feelings  by  a  look  of 
good-natured  commiseration ;  and  Judge  Torrens*  turned  a 
polite  and  fastidious  smile,  full  of  the  gracefulness  of  the  Horse- 
Guards,  upon  his  noble  and  learned  brother. 

Such  was  Lord  Norbury  as  a  Judge.  It  remains  to  say  a 
few  words  of  him  as  a  politician.  It  is  almost  unnecessary  to 
state  that,  with  such  intellectual  endowments,  he  did  not  coin- 
cide with  G-rattan,  and  Ourran,  and  Plunket,  and  Bushe,  in  the 
views  which  were  taken  by  those  inferior  persons  of  the  inter- 
est of  their  country,  but  that  he  agreed  in  principle  and  in  feel- 
ing with  Doctor  Duigenan,  Mr.  Dawson,  and  Sir  George  Hill,t 

*  James  Torrens,  senior  puisne  judge  of  the  Common  Pleas  in  Ireland,  is 
brother  to  the  late  Sir  Henry  Torrens,  who  accompanied  "The  Duke"  (then 
Sir  Arthur  Wellesley),  to  Portugal,  acted  as  his  Military  Secretary,  finally  (in 
1820)  became  an  Adjutant-General  of  the  British  army,  was  the  intimate  con- 
fidant of  the  Duke  of  York,  and  died  in  1828. —  This  relationship,  backed  by 
his  own  reputation  as  a  lawyer,  obtained  Mr.  ToiTens'  advancement  to  the 
bench. —  M. 

t  Sir  George  Hill  and  Mr.  George  Robert  Dawson  were  the  Protestant 
Ascendency  members  for  the  city  of  Londonderry.  The  name  of  the  former 
will  be  recollected,  not  for  any  merits  of  him  who  bore  it,  but  in  connection 
with  the  arrest  of  Tone.  In  September,  1798,  Tone,  then  holding  a  militaiy 
commission  under  the  French  Directory,  went  to  make  a  descent  upon  Ireland, 
with  three  thousand  men,  and  a  small  naval  force  under  Admiral  Bompert. 
The  expedition  was  met  by  a  British  squadron  under  Admiral  Wairen.  A  bat- 
tle ensued,  and,  after  a  gallant  combat  of  six  hours'  duration,  the  French  were 
defeated.  Tone,  who  had  commanded  a  battery  on  board  the  Admiral's  ship,  was 
among  the  captured  oflScers.  He  was  not  recognised  —  perhaps  some  who  knew 
him  generously  avoided  doing  so.  It  was  suspected  that  he  was  of  the  party. 
Sir  George  Hill,  his  fellow-student  at  Trinity  college,  volunteered,  to  identify 
him.  While  the  prisoners  were  breakfasting  with  the  Earl  of  Cavan,  they 
were  disturbed  by  Hill  and  a  party  of  police-officers.     Stepping  up  to  Tone,  he 


32  LORD   NORBURY. 

and  the  rest  of  the  ilhistrions  statesmen  by  Avhom  the  cause  of 
Ascendency  has  been  so  firmly  and  so  appropriately  supported. 
Lord  Norbnry  was  an  excellent  and  uniform  Protestant.  This 
was  always  well  known  in  Ireland,  but,  his  buffoonery  having 
swollen  up  and  concealed  the  other  traits  of  his  character,  little 
notice  was  taken  of  his  personal  predilections. 

It  was,  indeed,  his  habit  to  deliver  orations  to  the  grand- 
jury  upon  the  church  and  state  in  the  home  circuit ;  and  in 
reference  to  I.  K.  L.*  he  often  poured  out  a  tirade  against 
*'  Moll  Doyle,"  one  of  the  wild  personifications  of  agrarian  in- 
surrection in  the  south  of  Ireland ;  but,  however  indecorous 
these  allusions  were  deemed  in  a  Chief-Justice,  the  people 
were  so  much  accustomed  to  laugh  at  his  Lordship,  that  even 
where  there  was  good  cause  for  remonstrance,  they  could  not 
be  prevailed  on  to  regard  anything  he  did  in  a  serious  way. 
As  carte  hlanche  is  given  to  Grimaldi,t  the  public  allowed  Lord 
Norbury  an  unlimited  license  ;  and  in  law,  politics,  and  religion, 
never  placed  any  restraint  upon  him.     At  length,  however,  an 

said,  "  Mr.  Tone,  I  am  very  happy  to  see  you."  With  much  composure  Tone 
replied  that  he  was  happy  to  see  Sir  George,  and  politely  inquired  after  Lady 
Hill.  Tone  was  taken  into  another  room,  ironed,  sent  off  to  Dublin,  ti-ied  by 
comt-martial,  and  sentenced  to  death,  which  he  anticipated  by  suicide. — 
George  Robert  Dawson,  married  to  Sir  Robert  Peel's  sister,  held  office  under 
the  Duke  of  Wellington's  Administration,  and  had  long  been  a  decided  oppo- 
nent of  the  Catholic  Claims.  In  1828,  at  a  Corporation  dinner,  in  London- 
derry, he  ventured  to  hint  that  it  might  be  better  to  settle  the  Catholic  ques- 
tion, by  fair  concession,  than  hazard  ci\Tj  war  by  continuing  to  oppose  it.  This, 
at  such  a  meeting,  was  received  with  groans  and  hisses.  The  Orange  press 
denounced  Dawson  as  a  traitor-^ but  more  rational  politicians  felt  that  a  Gov- 
ernment official  would  never  have  uttered  such  words,  except  with  some  knowl- 
edge of  a  coming  change  of  measures,  and  this  was  confirmed  by  Dawson's 
continuing  in  office.  It  was  seen  that  something  was  in  agitation,  and  that 
Dawson's  speech  was  b.  feeler.  A  few  months  after  this,  Catholic  Emancipation 
was  granted. —  Mr.  Dawson,  who  is  an  excellent  man  of  business,  uniting  talent 
with  industry,  and  conscientious  principle  with  both,  is  now  Deputy-Chairmau 
of  the  Commissioners  of  Customs,  in  England. —  M. 

*  The  late  Dr.  Doyle,  Catholic  Bishop  of  Kildare  and  Leighlin. —  M. 

t  Joseph  Grimaldi,  bom  in  1779,  and  deceased  in  1837,  was  noted  and  pop- 
pular,  in  London,  for  forty  years,  as  an  unrivalled  pantomimic  clown  at  the 
theatres.  His  biographer  speaks  of  a  "  rich  and  (paradoxical  as  the  term  may 
seem)  intellectual  buffoonery,  peculiarly  his  own — portraying  to  the  life  all  that 
is  grotesque  in  manners,  or  droll  in  action." — M. 


MR.  saijetn's  letter.  33 

event  occurred  which  awakened  the  general  notice;  and,  as 
there  was  another  and  a  very  obnoxious  individual  concerned, 
excited  among  the  E-onian  Catholics  universal  indignation. 

Lord  Norbury  has  been  always  remarkable  for  his  frugality. 
He  was  in  the  habit  of  stuffing  papers  into  the  old  chairs  in  his 
study,  in  order  to  supply  the  deficiency  of  horse-hair  which  the 
incumbency  of  eighty  years  had  produced  in  their  bottoms. 
At  last,  however,  they  bt^came,  even  with  the  aid  of  this  occa- 
sional supplement,  unfit  for  use,  and  were  sent  by  his  Lordship 
to  a  shop  in  which  old  furniture  Avas  advertised  to  be  bought 
and  sold.  An  individual  of  the  name  of  Monaghan  got  one 
of  these  chairs  into  his  possession,  and,  finding  it  stuffed  with 
papers,  drew  them  out.  He  had  been  a  clerk  in  an  attorney's 
office,  and  knew  Mr.  Saurin's  handwriting.  He  perceived,  by 
the  superscription  of  a  letter,  that  it  was  written  by  the  Attor- 
ney-General, and  on  opening  it  he  found  the  following  w^ords 
addressed  to  a  Chief-Justice,  and  a  going  Judge  of  assize,  by 
the  principal  law-officer  of  the  Crown  : — 

"  Dublin  Castle,  August  9. 
"  I  transcribe  for  you  a  very  sensible  part  of  Lord  Ross's*  letter  to  me.     '  As, 
Lord  Norbury  goes  our  circuit,  and  as  he  is  personally  acquainted  with  the 


*  Lord  Ross,  who  advises  Mr.  Saurin  to  adopt  the  course  which  he  so  faith- 
fully pursued,  was  once  Sir  Laurence  Parsons,  and  was  in  the  habit  of  speaking 
in  the  Irifh  House  of  Commoris  in  favor  of  emancipation.     He  was  not  only 
an  orator,  but  a  poet.     In  the  appendix  to  the  first  volume  of  "  Wolfe  Tone's 
Memoirs,"  a  poem  is  inserted,  which  would  have  entitled  him  to  the  place  of 
Laureate  to  the  United  Irishmen.     The  following  are  the  opening  lines : — 
"  How  long,  O  Slaveiy !  shall  thine  iron  mace 
Wave  o'er  this  isle,  and  crouch  its  abject  race  ? 
Full  many  a  dastard  century  we've  bent 
Beneath  thy  ten'ors,  wretched  and  content. 
"  What  though  with  haughty  aiTogance  of  pride 
England  shall  o'er  this  long-duped  countiy  stride, 
And  lay  on  stripe  on  stripe,  and  shame  on  shame. 
And  brand  to  all  eternity  its  name : 
"  'Tis  right,  well  done,  bear  all  and  more,  I  say, 
Nay,  ten  times  more,  and  then  for  more  still  pray ! 
What  state  in  something  would  not  foremost  be? 
She  strives  for  fame,  thou  for  servility." 
[The  present  Earl  of  Rosse,  born  in   1800,  confers  a  lustre  on  the  title  far 
greater  than  what  he  derives  from  it.     His  successful  devotion  to  the  physical 

2* 


34  LORD    NORBURY. 

gentlemen  of  our  county,  a  hint  to  him  may  be  of  use.  He  is  in  the  habit  of 
tallcing  individually  to  them  in  his  chamber  at  Phillipstown  ;  and  if  he  were  to 
impress  on  them  the  consequence  of  the  measure,  viz.,  that  however  they  may 
think  otherwise,  the  Cathohcs  would,  in  spite  of  them,  elect  Catholic  members 
(if  such  were  eligib-.e),  that  the  Catholic  members  would  then  have  the  nomi- 
nation of  sherififs,  and  in  many  instan  os,  perhaps  of  the  judges  ;  and  the  Protes- 
tants would  be  put  in  the  back-gr.Mnd,  as  the  Protestants  were  formerly;  I 
think  he  would  bring  the  effect  of  the  measure  home  to  themselves,  and  satisfy 
them  that  they  could  scarcely  submit  to  live  in  the  country  if  it  were  passed.' 
So  far  Lord  Ross.  But  what  he  suggests  in  another  part  of  his  letter,  that  *  if 
Protestant  gentlemen,  who  have  votes  and  influence  and  interest,  would  give 
these  venal  members  to  understand  that  if  they  will  purchase  Catholic  votes  by 
betraying  their  country  and  its  constitution,  they  shall  infallibly  lose  theirs ;  it 
would  alter  their  conduct,  though  it  could  neither  make  them  honest  or  respect- 
able. If  you  will  judiciously  administer  [•'•']  a  little  of  this  medicine  to  the 
King's  County,  and  other  members  of  Parliament,  that  may  fall  in  your  way, 
you  will  deserve  well.  Many  thanks  for  your  letter,  and  its  good  intelligence 
from  Maryborough.  Jebb  is  a  most  valuable  fellow,  and  of  the  sort  that  is 
most  wanted.'  "  Affectionately  and  truly  yours, 

"  William  Saurin." 

When  this  letter  was  first  disclosed,  it  was  vehemently  as- 
serted by  Mr.  Saurin's  friends,  that  a  man  of  his  fame  and 
constitutional  principles  could  not  have  written  it,  and  they 
alleged  that  it  was  a  mere  fabrication ;  but  afterward,  when 
the  handwriting  was  perceived  to  be  indisputable,  and  the 
author  of  the  letter  did  not  dare  to  deny  its  authenticity,  Mr. 
Peel,  and  the  other  advocates  of  Mr.  Saurin,  contented  them- 
selves with  exclaiming  against  the  mere  impropriety  of  its  pro- 
duction. From  this  ground  of  imputation  they  were,  however, 
effectually  driven  by  Mr.  Brougham,t  when  he  called  to  the 
Minister's  recollection,  and  especially  to  that  of  the  Secretary 
of  the  Home  Department,  whom  it  chiefly  concerned,  the  foul 

sciences,  especially  to  optics  and  astronomy,  has  given  him  high  place  among 
the  knowledge-seekers  of  the  age.  In  1849,  Lord  Rosse  was  elected  President 
of  the  Royal  Society  of  England. —  M. 

t  Mr.  Brougham  laid  a  trap  for  Mr.  Peel.  The  writer  of  this  article  was 
told,  upon  good  authority,  that  he  inti'oduced  Mr.  Saurin's  letter  into  the  de- 
bate, in  order  to  allure  Mr.  Peel  into  a  censure  of  the  use  which  had  been 
made  of  it.  The  latter  fell  into  the  snare,  and  the  moment  he  began  to  inveigh 
against  the  production  of  the  letter,  Mr.  Brougham,  who  had  been  intently 
and  impatiently  watching  kim,  slapped  his  knee,  and  cned,  **  I  have  him  •" 


QUEEN  Caroline's  trial.  S|5 

means  adopted  to  get  at  evidence  against  tlie  Queen  *  Since 
that  time  we  have  heard  no  more  of  the  violation  of  all  good 
feeling  in  the  Catholics,  when  they  availed  themselves  of  a 
document  in  the  handwriting  of  an  Attorney-G-eneral,  in  order 
to  establish  the  fact  which  had  been  frequently  insisted  on, 
that  poison  had  been  poured  into  the  highest  sources  of  jus- 
tice. 

The  moral  indignation  of  Protestants  has  subsided,  but  they 
have  not  recovered  from  their  astonishment,  that  a  man  so 
cautious  and  deliberate  as  William  Saurin,  should  have  put 
himself  in  the  power  of  such  a  person  as  Lord  Norbury,  and 
intrusted  him  with  a  communication,  which  has  eventually 
proved  so  fatal  to  himself.  He  must  have  known  the  habits 
of  the  man,  and  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  how  he  could  look 
upon  the  alliance  of  so  singular  an  individual  as  of  importance 
to  his  party,  or  regard  him  as  likely  to  produce  any  impression 
upon  the  grand  juries  to  which  his  loyal  exhortations  were  to 
be  addressed. 

.The  discovery  of  this  letter  has  been  of  great  prejudice  to 
Mr.  Saurin,  as  it  renders  it  impossible  to  promote  him,  with 
any  sort  of  decency,  after  such  a  proceeding ;  but  it  was  of 
use  to  Lord  Norbury.  When  his  incompetence  in  his  office 
was  mentioned  in  Parliament,  the  Orange  faction  considered 

*  The  manner  which  the  evidence  against  Queen  Caroline,  consort  of  George 
IV.,  was  got  up  by  the  British  Government  was  illegal.  The  scale  of  pay- 
ment was  in  a  manner  regulated  by  the  extent  of  the  evidence  given  !  The 
more  damning  the  testimony,  the  greater  the  reward. —  There  always  has  been 
a  popular  belief  in  England  (though  the  fact  was  denied,  as  if  on  authority,  by 
Fox,  in  Parliament),  that  George  IV.  was  married,  previous  to  his  union  with 
Caroline  of  Brunswick,  to  Mrs.  Fitzherbert  —  the  lady  described  as  "fat,  fair, 
and  forty,"  when  he  first  met  her.  It  was  on  this  marriage,  and  the  subsequent 
royal  repudiation  of  the  lady,  that  Moore  wrote  the  Irish  Melody,  "  When  first 
I  Diet  thee,  warm  and  young,"  which  Byron  was  fond  of  chanting,  in  his  soli- 
tary hours  at  Venice,  where  (to  use  his  own  words)  "  like  a  hunted  stag,  he 
had  taken  to  the  waters,  and  there  stood  at  bay." — Queen  Caroline  hud  her 
joke  on  the  liaison  or  marriage  (whichever  it  might  be)  with  Mrs,  Fitzherbert, 
and  said,  in  1820,  "  I  never  was  guilty  of  adultery  but  once  —  and  that  was  with 
Mrs.  Fitzherbert's  husband  !"  Another  of  her  hits  was  her  saying,  when  asked, 
on  her  return  to  England,  where  she  intended  to  stop  in  London,  "  I  think  I 
shaJ  take  a  chop  at  the  Khifi's  Head.^^ — M. 


36  LORD   NORBUKY, 

themselves  bound  by  tbat  principle  of  fidelity  to  each  other, 
by  which,  to  do  them  justice,  they  are  characterized  to  sup- 
port a  very  zealous,  if  not  a  very  respectable  partisan  ;  and 
accordingly  Mr,  Goulburn,  with  the  effrontery  which  distin- 
guishes him,  pronounced  a  panegyric  upon  his  judicial  excel- 
lences, and  stated  (to  the  great  and  just  indignation  of  the 
other  judges  of  the  Common  Pleas)  that  in  a  difficult  and  com- 
plicated case  he  had  evinced  more  knowledge  and  astuteness 
than  any  of  them.  To  this  encomium,  Mr.  Peel,  with  all  his 
manliness,  and  although  he  values  himself  on  his  reformation 
of  the  abuses  of  justice,  gave  his  sanction.  Lord  Norbury, 
finding  himself  sustained  by  his  party  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, turned  a  deaf  ear  to  all  private  solicitations,  of  which 
his  resignation  was  the  object.* 

At  length  Mr.  O'Connell  presented  a  petition  for  his  removal, 
setting  forth,  among  other  grounds,  that  he  had  fallen  asleep 
during  the  trial  of  a  murder  case,  and  was  unable  to  give  any 
account  of  the  evidence,  when  called  on  for  his  notes  by  the 
Lord  Lieutenant.     Mr.  Scarlett,!  to  whom  the   petition  was 

*  When  it  was  determined  to  give  Lord  Norbury  a  hint  that  it  was  time  to 
retire,  the  task  —  which  was  one  of  delicacy,  if  not  of  peril  —  was  confided 
to  William  Gregory,  then  under-secretary  for  Ireland.  Norbmy  got  scent  of 
the  object  of  his  visit,  and,  the  moment  he  appeared,  locked  the  door,  with  a 
confidential  and  grave  air,  and  said,  "  You  are  one  of  my  best  and  oldest  friends. 
I  was  just  writing  for  you  to  come  here,  when  I  heard  your  voice.  I  am  told 
that  I  am  to  be  insulted  —  that  they  mean  to  ask  me  to  resign.  The  mock- 
monarch  in  Phoenix  Park  is  irresponsible,  but  the  hack  that  he  sends  shall  be 
his  proxy.  I'll  have  his  life,  or  he'll  have  mine  —  ay,  if  he  were  my  brother. 
My  old  friend  Gregoiy,  you  will  stand  by  me  ?  Here  are  the  hair-triggers." 
Here  he  opened  his  pistol-case.  **  Here  they  are,  as  ready  now  as  when  they 
blazed  at  Fitzgerald,  and  almost  frightened  Napper  Tandy  out  of  his  skin.  Stay 
and  dine  with  me,  and  we'll  talk  it  over." — Peaceable  Mr.  Gregory  declined 
the  invitation,  but  did  not  perform  his  mission.  That,  however,  was  done  by 
letter  from  Peel,  who  was  then  Home  Secretary.  The  rest  of  the  story,  as  to 
the  forced  resignation,  is  exactly  as  Mr.  Shell  tells  it.  Norbury  made  good 
terms  —  two  steps  in  the  peerage  (he  was  raised  fi'om  the  dignity  of  Baron  to 
that  of  Viscount  and  Earl),  and  a  pension  of  four  thousand  pounds  a  year. —  M. 

t  James  Scarlett,  afterward  Lord  Abinger,  was  more  distinguished  as  an  ad- 
vocate than  a  judge.  Bom  in  Jamaica,  in  1769  (his  brother  was  Chief- Justice 
of  the  island),  Mr.  Scarlett  was  called  to  the  English  Bar,  in  1791,  closely 
Biid  patiently  studied  the  law  (chiefly  making  himself  acquainted  with  the  mod- 


HIS    ENFOKCED    RESIGNATION.  37 

intrustecl,  did  not  move  upon  it,  in  consequence  of  a  personal 
assurance  from  Mr.  Peel,  that  he  would  do  everything  in  his 
power  to  induce  him,  of  his  own  accord,  to  retire.  For  although 
Mr.  Peel  ostensibly  defended  him  as  a  friend  and  partisan, 
yet  he  was,  in  reality,  ashamed  of  such  an  incubus  upon  the 
bench.  Lord  Norbury  at  last  went  so  far  as  to  intimate  that 
he  would  consult  his  friends  on  the  subject,  and  required  a 
reasonable  time  to  do  so,  which  was  accordingly  granted. 
After  tlie  lapse  of  a  month,  Mr.  Goulburn  called  again  to  know 
the  result  of  his  deliberations,  when  his  lordship  stated  that 
Lord  Oombermere  was  his  most  particular  friend,  and  that  he 
had  written  to  him  at  Calcutta.  Mr.  Goulburn,  finding  himself 
thus  evaded,  and  being  conscious  that  he  was  as  well  qualified 
at  eighty-six  as  he  had  ever  been  (for  no  increased  hallucina- 
tion is  perceptible  about  him),  was  a  good  deal  at  a  loss  what 
to  do.  But  suddenly  Mr.  Canning  became  lord  of  the  ascen- 
dant ;  and  Lord  Norbury,  who  never  wanted  sagacity,  feeling 
that  under  the  new  system  he  could  not  expect  the  support  of 
ministers,  wisely  came  into  terms ;  and  having  stipulated  for 
an  earldom,  as  a  consideration,  resigned  in  favor  of  Lord  Plun- 

em  reports),  chose  the  northern  circuit,  and  became  distinguished,  almost  from 
starting-,  for  his  knowledge  of  law  and  his  dexterous  examination  of  witnesses. 
In  1816,  he  was  made  King's  Counsel,  and  entered  Parliament,  as  a  Wliig,  in 
1818.  He  was  not  a  good  debater  and  did  not  shine  as  a  senator.  His  votes 
were  on  the  liberal  side,  and  he  supported  the  attempts  of  Romilly  and  Macin- 
tosh to  ameliorate  the  Draconian  severity  of  the  criminal  code.  Under  Can- 
ning's administration,  in  1827,  Mr.  Scarlett  was  made  Solicitor-General  and 
knighted.  He  retained  office  under  the  Wellington  Cabinet  —  changing  his 
political  opinions,  much  to  the  damage  of  his  popularity.  When  Catholic 
Emancipation  was  granted,  in  1829,  he  succeeded  to  the  office  of  Attorney- 
General,  vacated  by  Sir  Charles  Wetherell,  who  was  hostile  to  the  measure, 
and  earned  additional  unpopularity  by  a  crusade  against  the  press.  For  :his, 
he  was  introduced  into  Bulwer's  Paul  Clifford,  as  "  Scarlett  Jem,  good  at  a 
press."  When  his  old  friends,  the  Whigs,  came  into  office  in  1830,  they  cash- 
iered their  quondam  ally.  But,  in  1834,  under  Peel's  premiership,  Sir  James 
Scarlett  was  made  Chief-Baron  of  the  Exchequer,  and  raised  to  the  peerage. 
Latterly,  ill  health  made  his  temper  iiritable.  He  had  to  preside,  in  1841,  at 
the  trial  of  certain  Chartists  charged  with  sedition,  and  exhibited  such  an  angry 
partisan  feeling  against  them  as  to  cause  much  public  disapprobation,  and  some 
parliamentary  censure.     He  died,  in  1844,  in  his  seventy-fifth  year. —  M. 


38  LORD   NCmBTJRY. 

ket,  who,  like  an  unskilful  aeronaut,  lias  made  a  bad  descent 
into  the  Common  Pleas.* 

Thus  had  this  man,  without  talent,  or  knowledge,  or  any- 
thing to  recommend  him,  beyond  his  personal  and  animal 
spirit,  to  the  favor  of  government,  raised  himself  to  a  high 
station  on  the  bench,  which  he  enjoyed  for  seven-and-twenty 
years  ;  and  now,  laden  wath  wealth,  effects  his  retreat  through  a 
loftier  grade  in  the  peerage.  He  has  accumulated  an  immense 
fortune,  partly  from  the  lucrative  offices  of  which  he  was  so 
long  in  the  enjoyment,  and  partly  through  his  rigid  economy. 
I  ought  not,  however,  to  omit  that,  parsimonious  as  his  habits 
are,  still  they  do  not  prevent  him  from  exercising  the  best  kind 
of  charity,  for  he  is  an  excellent  landlord.  In  his  dealings 
with  his  inferiors,  too  (I  gladly  avail  myself  of  the  opportunity 
of  bestowing  on  him  such  praise  as  he  deserves),  he  is  kind 
and  considerate ;  and  toward  his  domestics  is  a  gentle  and 
forbearing  master.  In  his  deportment  to  the  Bar,  too,  he  was 
undeviatingly  polite,  and  never  forgot  that  he  was  himself  a 
member  of  the  profession,  on  which  the  recollection  of  every 
judge  should  forbid  him  to  trample.  In  private  society,  he  is 
a  most  agreeable,  although  a  very  grotesque  companion. 

He   is  not  wholly  destitute  of  literature ;    having  a  great 

*  John  Toler,  who  died  Earl  and  Baron  Norbury  and  Viscount  Glandine 
(having  also  obtained  a  distinct  peerag-e  for  his  wife),  was  bom  in  1745,  and 
was  the  son  of  a  countiy  gentleman  in  Tipperary.  He  was  called  to  the  Irish 
bar  in  1770 ;  entered  Parliament  in  1776  ;  obtained  a  silk  gown  in  1781 ;  was 
made  Solicitor-General  in  1789  ;  succeeded  Wolfe  as  Attorney-General,  in  1798, 
was  made  Chief-Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas  in  1800,  being  created  Baron 
Norbury;  retired  in  1827,  bargaining  for  two  steps  in  the  peerage,  and  a  pen- 
sion of  four  thousand  pounds  sterling  a  year;  and  died  in  July,  1831,  aged 
eighty-six.  Perhaps  no  one  ever  wore  the  eiTnine  so  wholly  unqualified  for  its 
dignity  and  responsibility,  as  Lord  Norbur}'.  So  cruel,  that  he  was  called  "  the 
hanging  judge  ;"  so  indecorous,  that  he  would  jest,  even  at  the  expense  of  the 
wretch  he  was  dooming  to  the  gallows  ;  so  callous,  that  public  reprobation  never 
galled  him ;  so  partial,  that  power,  however  unjust,  might  count  upon  his 
assistance ;  so  bad  a  lawyer,  that  the  merest  tyro  in  the  profession  had  often  to 
set  him  right.  Truly  was  it  said,  when  he  died,  "  Mercy  droops  not  beside 
his  tomb  ;  nor  will  justice,  eloquence,  or  learning,  stretch  themselves  within  it." 
In  a  word,  among  bad  men,  at  a  time  when  oppression  and  injustice  prevailed, 
one  of  the  very  worst  was  this  wicked  judge,  Lord  Norbury. —  M. 


HIS    LIBRARY.  39 

memory,  he  is  fond  of  repeating  passages  from  the  older  poets, 
which  he  recites  with  propriety  and  force.  Of  modern  authors 
he  is  wholly  ignorant,  nor  is  a  new  book  to  be  found  in  his 
library.  His  study  presents,  indeed,  a  curious  spectacle.  In 
the  centre  of  the  room  lies  a  heap  of  old  papers,  covered  with 
dust,  mingled  with  political  pamphlets,  written  some  forty 
years  ago,  together  with  an  odd  volume  of  the  "  Irish  Parlia- 
mentary Debates,"  recording  the  speeches  of  Mr.  Sergeant 
Toler.  On  the  shelves,  which  are  half  empty,  and  exhibit  a 
most  "beggarly  account,"  there  are  some  forty  moth-eaten  law- 
books ;  and  by  their  side  appear  odd  volumes  of  "  Peregrine 
Pickle,"  and  "  Roderick  Random,"  with  the  "  Newgate  Calen- 
dar," complete.  A  couple  of  wornout  saddles,  with  rusty  stir- 
rups, hang  from  the  top  of  one  of  the  bookcases,  which  are 
enveloped  with  cobwebs ;  and  a  long  line  of  veteran  boots 
of  mouldy  leather  are  arrayed  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
room.  King  William's  picture  stands  over  the  chimney-piece, 
with  prints  of  Eclipse  and  other  celebrated  racers,  from  which 
his  lordship's  politics,  and  other  predilections,  may  be  col- 
lected. 

He  was  a  remarkably  good  horseman,  and  even  now  always 
appears  well  mounted  in  the  streets.  A  servant,  dressed  in 
an  ancient  livery,  rides  close  beside  him ;  and  by  his  very 
proximity  and  care,  assists  a  certain  association  with  loneli- 
ness which  has  begun  to  attend  him.  He  has,  in  truth,  assumed 
of  late  a  very  dreary  and  desolate  aspect.  When  he  rode 
to  court,  as  he  did  every  day  while  a  judge,  he  exhibited,  for 
his  time  of  life,  great  alacrity  and  spirit ;  and  as  he  passed  by 
Mr.  Joy,  whom  he  looked  upon  as  his  probable  successor,  put- 
ting spurs  to  his  horse,  he  cantered  rapidly  along.  But  now 
he  is  without  occupation  or  pursuit,  and  looks  alone  in  the 
world.  His  gayety  is  gone,  and  when  he  stops  an  old  ac- 
quaintance in  the  street  to  inquire  how  the  world  wags,  his 
voice  and  manner  exhibit  a  certain  wandering  and  oblivion, 
while  his  face  seems  at  once  dull,  melancholy,  and  abstracted. 

Sometimes  he  rides  beyond  Dublin,  and  is  to  be  met  in 
lonely  and  imfrequented  roads,  looking  as  if  he  was  musing 
over  mournful  recollections,  or  approaching  to  a  suspension  of 


40  LOED   NORBURY. 

all  tliouglit.  Not  many  days  ago,  on  my  return  to  town  from 
a  short  excursion  in  the  country,  as  the  evening  drew  on,  I 
saw  him  riding  near  a  cemetery,  while  the  chill  breezes  of 
October  were  beginning  to  grow  bitter,  and  the  leaves  were 
falling  rapidly  from  the  old  and  withered  trees  in  the  adjoin- 
ing churchyard.  The  wind  had  an  additional  bleakness  as  it 
blew  over  the  residences  of  the  dead ;  and  although  it  im- 
parted to  his  red  and  manly  cheeks  a  stronger  flush,  still,  as  it 
stirred  his  gray  locks,  it  seemed  with  its  wintry  murmurs  to 
whisper  to  the  old  man  a  funeral  admonition.  He  appeared, 
as  he  urged  on  his  horse  and  tried  to  hurry  from  so  dismal  a 
scene,  to  shrink  and  huddle  himself  from  the  blast.  In  anti- 
cipation of  an  event,  which  can  not  be  remote  (while  I  forgot 
all  his  political  errors,  and  only  remembered  how  often  he  had 
beguiled  a  tedious  hour,  and  set  the  Four  Courts  in  a  roar),  I 
could  not  help  muttering,  as  I  passed  him,  with  some  feeling 
of  regret,  "  Alas,  poor  Yorick !" 


CLONMEL   ASSIZES. 

The  delineation  of  the  leading  members  of  the  Irish  bar  is 
not  the  only  object  of  these  sketches.  It  is  my  purpose  to 
describe  the  striking  scenes,  and  to  record  tlie  remarkable  in- 
cidents, which  fall  Avithin  my  own  forensic  observation.  That 
these  incidents  and  scenes  should  take  place  in  our  courts  of 
justice,  affords-a  sufficient  justification  for  making  the  "  Sketches 
of  the  Irish  Bar"  the  medium  of  their  narration.  I  might  also 
suggest  that  the  character  of  the  bar  itself  is  more  or  less  influ- 
enced by  the  nature  of  the  business  in  which  it  is  engaged. 
The  iliind  of  any  man  who  habitually  attends  the  assizes  of 
Clonmel  carries  deep,  and  not  perhaps  the  most  useful,  impres- 
sions away  from  it.  How  often  have  I  reproached  myself  with 
having  joined  in  the  boisterous  merriment  which  either  the 
jests  of  counsel  or  the  droll  perjuries  of  the  witnesses  have 
produced  during  the  trial  of  a  capital  offence !  How  often 
have  I  seen  the  bench,  the  jury,  the  bar,  and  the  galleries,  of 
an  Irish  court  of  justice,  in  a  roar  of  tumultuous  laughter,  while 
I  beheld  in  the  dock  the  wild  and  haggard  face  of  a  wretch 
who,  placed  on  the  verge  of  eternity,  seemed  to  be  surveying 
the  gulf  on  the  brink  of  which  he  stood,  and  presented,  in  his 
ghastly  aspect  and  motionless  demeanor,  a  reproof  of  the  spirit 
of  hilarity  with  which  he  was  to  be  sent  before  his  God  ! 

It  is  not  that  there  is  any  kind  of  cruelty  intermixed  with 
this  tendency  to  mirth ;  but  that  the  perpetual  recurrence  of 
incidents  of  the  most  awful  character  divests  them  of  the  power 
of  producing  effect,  and  that  they — 

*'  Whose  fell  of  hair 
Would  at  a  dismal  ti'eatise  rouse  and  stir 
As  life  were  in 't"  — 


5' 


42  CLONMEL    ASSIZES. 

acquire  such  a  familiarity  with  direness,  that  they  become  not 
only  insensible  to  the  dreadful  nature  of  the  spectacles  which 
are  presented,  but  scarcely  conscious  of  them.  But  it  is  not 
merely  because  the  bar  itself  is  under  the  operation  of  the  inci- 
dents wdiich  furnish  the  materials  of  their  professional  occupa- 
tion that  I  have  selected  the  last  assizes  at  Clonmel  as  the 
subject  of  this  article.  The  extensive  circulation  of  this  peri- 
odical work  affords  the  opportunity  of  putting  the  English  pub- 
lic in  possession  of  many  illustrative  facts ;  and  in  narrating 
the  events  which  attended  the  murder  of  Daniel  Mara,  and  the 
trial  of  his  assassins,  I  propose  to  myself  the  useful  end  of  fix- 
ing the  general  attention  upon  a  state  of  things  which  ought 
to  lead  all  wise  and  good  men  to  the  consideration  of  the  only 
effectual  means  by  which  the  evils  which  result  from  the  moral 
condition  of  the  country  may  be  remedied.* 

In  the  month  of  April,  1827,  a  gentleman  of  the  name  of 
Ohadwick  was  murdered  in  the  open  day,  at  a  place  called 
Rath  Cannon,  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  old  Abbey  of 
Holycross.  Mr.  Ohadwick  was  the  member  of  an  influential 
family,  and  was  employed  as  land-agent  in  collecting  their 
rents.  The  person  who  fills  this  office  in  England  is  called 
*'  a  steward ;"  but  in  Ireland  it  is  designated  by  the  more  hon- 
orable name  of  a  land-agency.  The  discharge  of  the  duties 
of  this  situation  must  be  always  more  or  less  obnoxious.  In 
times  of  public  distress,  the  landlord,  who  is  himself  urged  by 
fits  own  creditors,  urges  his  agent  on,  and  the  latter  inflicts 
upon  the  tenants  the  necessities  of  his  employer. 

I  have  heard  that  Mr.  Ohadwick  was  not  peculiarly  rigorous 
in  the  exaction  of  rent,  but  he  was  singularly  injudicious  in 
his  demeanor  toward  the  lower  orders.  He  believed  that  they 
detested  him ;  and,  possessing  personal  courage,  bade  them 
defiance.  He  was  not  a  man  of  a  bad  heart ;  but  was  despotic 
and  contumelious  in  his  manners  to  those  whose  hatred  he  re- 
turned with  contempt.  It  is  said  that  he  used  to  stand  among 
a  body  of  the  peasantry,  and,  observing  that  his  corpulency 
was  on  the  increase,  was  accustomed  to  exclaim,  "  I  think  I 
am  fattening  upon  your  curses  !"     In  answer  to  these  taunts, 

*  This  Bkfitch  was  published  in  July,  1828.-r-M. 


MURDER    OF   MR.    CHADWICK.  0       43 

the  peasants  who  surrounded  liim,  and  who  were  well  habitu- 
ated to  the  concealment  of  their  fierce  and  terrible  passions, 
affected  to  laugh,  and  said  that  "his  honor  was  mighty  pleas- 
ant ;  and  sure  his  honor,  God  bless  him,  was  always  fond  of 
his  joke!"  But  while  they  indulged  in  the  sycophancy  under 
which  they  are  wont  to  smother  their  sanguinary  detestations, 
they  were  lying  in  wait  for  the  occasion  of  revenge.  Perhaps, 
however,  they  would  not  have  proceeded  to  the  extremities  to 
which  they  had  recourse,  but  for  a  determination  evinced  by 
Mr.  Chadwick  to  take  effectual  means  for  keeping  them  in  awe. 
He  set  about  building  a  police-barrack  at  Rath  Cannon.  It 
was  resolved  that  Mr.  Chadwick  should  die. 

This  decision  was  not  the  result  of  individual  vengeance. 
The  wide  confederacy  into  which  the  lower  orders  are  organ- 
ized in  Tipperary  held  council  upon  him,  and  the  village  are- 
opagus  pronounced  his  sentence.     It  remained  to  find  an  exe-. 
cutioner. 

Patrick  Grace,  who  was  almost  a  boy,  but  was  distinguished 
by  various  feats  of  guilty  courage,  offered  himself  as  a  volun- 
teer in  what  was  regarded  by  him  as  an  honorable  cause.  He 
had  set  up  in  the  county  as  a  sort  of  knight-errant  against 
landlords  ;  and,  in  the  spirit  of  a  barbarous  chivalry,  proffered 
his  gratuitous  services  wherever  what  he  conceived  to  be  a 
wrong  was  to  be  redressed.  He  proceeded  to  Rath  Cannon ; 
and,  without  adopting  any  sort  of  precaution,  and  while  the 
public  road  was  traversed  by  numerous  passengers,  in  the  broad 
daylight,  and  just  beside  the  barrack,  in  the  construction  of 
which  Mr.  Chadwick  was  engaged,  shot  that  unfortunate  gen- 
tleman, who  fell  instantly  dead. 

This  dreadful  crime  produced  a  great  sensation,  not  only  in 
the  county  where  it  was  perpetrated,  but  through  the  whole  of 
Ireland.  When  it  was  announced  in  Dublin,  it  created  a  sort 
of  dismay,  as  it  evinced  the  spirit  of  atrocious  intrepidity  to 
which  the  peasantry  had  been  roused.  It  was  justly  accounted, 
by  those  who  looked  upon  this  savage  assassination  with  most 
horror,  as  furnishing  evidence  of  the  moral  condition  of  the 
people,  and  as  intimating  the  consequences  which  might  be 
anticipated  from  the  ferocity  of  the  peasantry,  if  ever  they 


44    • 


CLONMEL    ASSIZES. 


should  be  let  loose.  Patrick  Grace  calculated  on  impunity ; 
but  liis  confidence  in  the  power  and  terrors  of  the  confederacy 
with  which  he  was  associated  was  mistaken.  A  brave,  and  a 
religious  man,  whose  name  was  Philip  Mara,  was  present  at 
the  murder.  He  was  standing  beside  his  employer,  Mr.  Ohad- 
wick,  and  saw  Grace  put  him  deliberately  to  death.  Grace 
was  well  aware  that  Mara  had  seen  him,  but  did  not  believe 
that  he  would  dare  to  give  evidence  against  him.  It  is  proba- 
ble, too,  that  he  conjectured  that  Mara  coincided  with  him  in 
his  ethics  of  assassination,  and  applauded  the  proceeding. 
Mara,  however,  who  was  a  moral  and  virtuous  man,  was  horror- 
struck  by  what  he  had  beheld ;  and,  under  the  influence  of 
conscientious  feelings,  gave  immediate  information  to  a  magis- 
trate. Patrick  Grace  was  arrested,  and  tried  at  the  summer 
assizes  of  1827. 

I  was  not  present  at  his  trial,  but  have  heard  from  good  au- 
thority that  he  displayed  a  fearless  demeanor ;  and  that  when 
he  was  convicted  upon  the  evidence  of  Philip  Mara,  he  de- 
clared that  before  a  year  should  go  by  he  should  have  ven- 
geance in  the  grave.  He  was  ordered  to  be  executed  near  the 
spot  where  his  misdeed  had  been  perpetrated.  This  was  a 
signal  mistake,  and  produced  an  effect  exactly  the  reverse  of 
what  was  contemplated.  The  lower  orders  looked  upon  him 
as  a  martyr ;  and  his  deportment,  personal  beauty,  and  un- 
daunted courage,  rendered  him  an  object  of  deep  interest  and 
sympathy  upon  the  scaffold.  He  was  attended  by  a  body  of 
troops  to  the  old  Abbey  of  Holycross,  where  not  less  than 
fifteen  thousand  people  assembled  to  behold  him. 

The  site  of  the  execution  rendered  the  spectacle  a  most  stri- 
king one.  The  Abbey  of  Holycross  is  the  finest  and  most  ven- 
erable monastic  ruin  in  Ireland.  Most  travellers  turn  from 
their  way  to  survey  it,  and  leave  it  with  a  deep  impression  of 
its  solemnity  and  grandeur.  A  vast  multitude  was  assembled 
round  the  scaffold.  The  prisoner  was  brought  forward  in  the 
midst  of  the  profound  silence  of  the  people.  He  ascended  and 
surveyed  them  ;  and  looked  upon  the  ruins  of  the  edifice  which 
had  once  been  dedicated  to  the  worship  of  his  religion,  and  to 
the  sepulchres  of  the  dead  which  were  strewed  among  its  aisles.- 


EXECUTION  OF  PATRICK  GRACE.  45 


4- 


and  bad  been  for  ages  as  be  was  in  a  few  minutes  about  to  be. 
It  was  not  known  wbetber  be  would  call  for  vengeance  from 
bis  survivors,  or  for  mercy  from  Heaven.  His  kindred,  bis 
close  friends,  bis  early  companions,  all  tbat  be  loved,  and  all 
to  wbom  be  was  dear,  were  around  bim,  and  notbiug,  except 
a  universal  sob  from  bis  female  relatives,  disturbed  tbe  awful 
taciturnity  tbat  prevailed.  At  tbe  side  of  Patrick  Grace  stood 
tbe  priest — tbe  mild  admonitor  of  tbe  beart,  tbe  sootber  of 
affliction,  and  tbe  preceptor  of  forgiveness — wbo  attended  bim 
in  tbe  last  office  of  bumanity,  and  wbo  proved  by  tbe  result 
bow  well  be  bad  performed  it. 

To  tbe  disappointment  of  tbe  people,  Patrick  Grace  ex- 
pressed bimself  profoundly  contrite ;  and,  altbougb  be  evinced 
no  fear  of  deatb,  at  tbe  instance  of  tbe  Roman  Catbolic  clergy- 
man wbo  attended  bim,  implored  tbe  people  to  take  warning 
by  bis  example.  In  a  few  moments  after,  be  left  existence. 
But  tbe  effect  of  bis  execution  will  be  estimated  by  tbis  re- 
markable incident.  His  gloves  were  banded  by  one  of  bis 
relations  to  an  old  man  of  tbe  name  of  Jolin  Russel,  as  a  keep- 
sake. Russel  drew  tbem  on,  and  declared  at  tbe  same  time 
tbat  be  sbould  wear  tbem  "  till  Paddy  Grace  was  revenged ;" 
and  revenged  be  soon  afterward  was,  witbin  tbe  time  wbicb 
he  bad  bimself  prescribed  for  retribution,  and  in  a  manner 
wbicb  is  as  mucb  calculated  to  excite  astonisliment  at  tbe 
strangeness,  as  detestation  for  tbe  atrocity  of  tbe  crime,  of 
wbicb  I  proceed  to  narrate  tbe  details. 

Pbilip  Mara  was  removed  by  Government  from  tbe  country. 
It  was  perfectly  obvious  tbat,  if  be  bad  continued  to  sojourn  in 
Tipperary,  bis  life  would  bave  been  taken  speedily,  and  at  all 
hazards,  away.  It  was  decided  tbat  all  bis  kindred  sbould  be 
exterminated.  He  bad  three  brothers ;  and  the  bare  consan- 
guinity with  a  traitor  (for  his  crime  was  treason)  was  regarded 
as  a  sufficient  offence  to  justify  their  immolation.  If  they 
could  not  procure  his  own  blood  for  tbe  purposes  of  sacrifice, 
it  was  however  something  to  make  libation  of  that  which 
flowed  from  the  same  source.  The  crimes  of  the  Irish  are  de- 
rived from  the  same  origin  as  their  virtues.  They  have  pow- 
erful domestic  attachments.     Their  love  and  devotion  to  their 


46  CLONMEL    ASSIZKS. 

kindred  instruct  them  in  the  worst  expedients  of  atrocity. 
KnoAving  the  affection  which  Mara  had  for  his  brothers,  they 
found  the  way  to  his  heart  in  the  kindest  instincts  of  humani- 
ty;  and,  from  the  consciousness  of  the  pain  which  the  murder 
of  "  his  mother's  children"  would  inflict,  determined  that  he 
should  endure  it. 

It  must  he  owned  that  there  is  a  dreadful  policy  in  this  sys- 
tem. The  Government  may  withdraw  their  witnesses  from  the 
country,  and  afford  them  protection  ;  hut  their  wives,  their  off- 
spring, their  parents,  their  brothers,  sisters,  nay  their  remotest 
relatives,  can  not  be  secure,  and  the  vengeance  of  the  ferocious 
peasantry,  if  defrauded  of  its  more  immediate  and  natural 
object,  will  satiate  itself  with  some  other  victim.  It  was  in 
conformity  with  these  atrocious  principles  of  revenge  that  the 
murder  of  the  brothers  of  Philip  Mara  was  resolved  upon. 
Strange  to  tell,  the  whole  body  of  the  peasantry  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Rath  Cannon,  and  far  beyond  it,  entered,  into  a 
league,  for  the  perpetration  of  this  abominable  crime;  and 
while  the  individuals  who  were  marked  out  for  massacre  were 
unconscious  of  what  was  going  forward,  scarcely  a  man,  woman, 
or  child,  looked  them  in  the  face  who  did  not  know  that  they 
were  marked  out  for  death. 

They  were  masons  by  trade,  and  were  employed  in  building 
the  barrack  at  Rath  Cannon,  on  the  spot  where  Chadwick  had 
been  assassinated,  and  where  the  funeral  of  Patrick  Grace  (for 
so  his  execution  was  called)  had  been  performed.  The  peas- 
antry looked  in  all  probability  with  an  evil  eye  upon  every 
man  who  had  put  his  hand  to  this  obnoxious  work ;  but  their 
main  object  was  the  extermination  of  Philip  Mara's  brothers. 
They  were  three  in  number — Daniel,  Laurence,  and  Timothy. 
On  the  first  of  October  they  were  at  work,  with  an  apprentice 
in  the  mason  trade,  at  the  barrack  at  Rath  Cannon.  The  name 
of  this  apprentice  was  Hickey.  In  the  evening,  about  five 
o'clock,  they  left  off  their  work,  and  were  returning  homeward, 
when  eight  men  with  anus  rushed  upon  them.  They  were 
fired  at;  but  the  firearms  of  the  assassins  were  in  such  bad  con- 
dition, that  tlue  discharge  of  their  rude  musketry  had  no  effect. 
Laurence,  Timothy,  and  the  apprentice,  fled  in  different  direc- 


MURDER  OF  DANIEL  MARA  47 

tions,  and  escaped.  Daniel  Mara  lost  Lis  presence  of  mind, 
and  instead  of  taking  the  same  route  as  the  others,  ran  into  the 
house  of  a  poor  widow.  He  was  pursued  by  the  murderers, 
one  of  whom  got  in  by  a  small  window,  while  tlie  others  burst 
through  the  door,  and  with  circumstances  of  great  savageness 
put  him  to  death. 

The  intelligence  of  this  event  produced  a  still  greater  sen- 
sation than  the  murder  of  Ohadwick;  and  was  as  much  the 
subject  of  comment  as  some  great  political  incident,  fraught 
with  national  consequences,  in  the  metropolis.  The  Govern- 
ment lost  no  time  in  issuing  proclamations,  offering  a  reward 
of  two  thousand  pounds  sterling  for  information  Avhich  should 
bring  the  assassins  to  justice.  The  magnitude  of  the  sum  in- 
duced the  hope  that  its  temptation  would  be  found  irresistible 
to  poverty  and  destitution  so  great  as  that  which  prevails 
among  the  class  of  ordinary  malefactors.  It  was  well  known 
that  hundreds  had  cognizance  of  the  offence ;  and  it  was  con- 
cluded that,  among  so  numerous  a  body,  the  tender  of  so  large 
a  reward  could  not  fail  to  offer  an  effectual  allurement.  Weeks, 
however,  passed  over  without  tlie  communication  of  intelligence 
of  any  kind.  Several  persons  Avere  arrested  on  suspicion,  but 
were  afterward  discharged,  as  no  more  than  mere  conjecture 
could  be  adduced  against  them. 

Mr.  Doherty,  the  Solicitor-General,  proceeded  t©  the  county 
of  Tipperary,  in  order  to  investigate  the  transaction  ;  but  for  a 
considerable  time  all  his  scrutiny  was  Avithout  avail.  At  length, 
however,  an  individual  of  the  name  of  Thomas  Fitzgerald  was 
committed  to  jail  upon  a  charge  of  highway  robbery,  and,  in 
order  to  save  his  life,  furnished  evidence  upon  which  the  Gov- 
ernment was  enabled  to  pierce  into  the  mysteries  of  delin- 
quency. The  moment  Fitzgerald  unsealed  his  lips,  a  numer- 
ous horde  of  malefactors  were  taken  up,  and  further  reveal- 
ments  were  made  under  the  influence  Avhich  the  love  of  life, 
and  not  of  money,  exercised  over  their  minds.  The  assizes 
came  on  ;  and  on  Monday,  the  31st  of  March  [1828],  Patrick 
Lacy  and  John  Walsh  were  placed  at  the  bar,  and  to  the  in- 
dictment for  the  murder  of  Daniel  Mara  pleaded  not  guilty. 

The  Court  presented  a  very  imposing  spectacle.     The  whole 


48  CLONMEL   ASSIZES. 

boely  of  the  gentry  of  Tipperary  were  assembled  in  order  to 
witness  a  trial  on  wliicli  tlie  security  of  life  and  property  was 
to  depend.  The  box  which  is  devoted  to  the  grand-jury  was 
thronged  with  the  aristocracy  of  the  county,  who  manifested 
an  anxiety  far  stronger  than  the  trial  of  an  ordinary  culprit  is 
accustomed  to  produce.  An  immense  crowd  of  the  peasantry 
was  gathered  round  the  dock.  All  appeared  to  feel  a  deep 
interest  in  what  was  to  take  place,  but  it  was  easy  to  perceive 
in  the  diversity  of  solicitude  which  was  expressed  upon  their 
faces,  the  degrees  of  sympathy  which  connected  them  with  the 
prisoners  at  the  bar.  The  more  immediate  kindred  of  the  mal- 
efactors were  distinguishable,  by  their  profound  but  still  emo- 
tion, from  those  who  were  engaged  in  the  same  extensive  or- 
ganization, and  were  actuated  by  a  selfish  sense  that  their  per- 
sonal interests  were  at  stake,  without  having  their  more  tender 
affections  involved  in  the  result. 

But  besides  the  relatives  and  confederates  of  the  prisoners, 
there  was  a  third  class  among  the  spectators,  in  which  another 
shade  of  sympathy  was  observable.  These  were  the  mass  of 
the  peasantry,  who  had  no  direct  concern  with  the  transaction, 
but  whose  principles  and  habits  made  them  well-wishers  to  the 
men  who  had  put  their  lives  in  peril  for  what  was  regarded  as 
the  common  cause.  Through  the  crowd  were  dispersed  a  num- 
ber of  policemen,  whose  green  regimentals,  high  caps,  and  glit- 
tering bayonets,  made  them  conspicuous,  and  brought  them 
into  contrast  with  the  peasants  by  whom  they  were  surrounded. 
On  the  table  stood  the  governor  of  the  jail,  with  his  ponderous 
keys,  which  designated  his  office,  and  presented  to  the  mind 
associations  which  aided  the  effect  of  the  scene. 

Mr.  Justice  Moore  appeared  in  his  red  robes  lined  with  black, 
and  intimated  by  his  aspect  that  he  anticipated  the  discharge 
of  a  dreadful  duty.  Beside  him  was  placed  the  Earl  of  Kings- 
ton,* who  had  come  from  the  neighboring  county  of  Cork  to 

*  Mr.  Shell's  description  of  the  late  Earl  of  Kingston  is  veiy  accurate,  but 
words  can  not  paint  the  brutality  of  this  man's  appearance.  When  I  was  a 
lad,  I  often  saw  him,  as  he  was  Chairman  of  the  Magistrates  at  the  Sessions, 
in  Fermoy,  where  I  was  educated  —  one  schoolmate  being  Francis  Hincks, 
now  of  Canada,  and  the  schoolmaster  being  Dr.  Hincks,  his  father.     The  Earl 


THE   EARL    OF   KINGSTON.  49 

witness  the  trial,  and  whose  great  possessions  gave  him  a  pe- 
culiar concern  in  tracing  to  their  sources  the  disturbances  which 
had  already  a  formidable  character,  and  intimated  still  more 

of  Kingston  was  an  immense  man,  bulky  and  bm-ly,  with  his  features  almost 
hidden  in  a  mass  of  dark  whiskers,  and  his  deep-set  eyes  glaring  beneath 
shaggy,  black  eyebrows,  and  a  forehead  "  villanous  low."  His  voice,  that 
all  might  be  en  suite,  was  at  once  deep  and  loud.  I  never  saw  a  man  who  had 
a  more  brutal  appearance.  He  took  large  quantities  of  snuff,  which  he  carried 
loose  in  a  waistcoat-pocket  lined  with  tin,  and  his  method  was  to  take  small 
handfuls  of  it,  throw  part  of  it  up  into  his  immense  nostrils,  and  fling  away  the 
remainder  over  his  left  shoulder  —  the  consequence  of  which  was,  that  nobody 
who  knew  him  would  sit  upon  that  side.  When  he  was  a  young  man,  he  held 
a  commission  in  the  North  Cork  Militia  —  a  corps  6f  Orangemen,  who  commit- 
ted fearful  barbarities  in  the  fatal  1798,  and  used  to  amuse  themselves,  when 
they  did  shoot  or  bayonet  a  suspected  "  rebel,"  with  setting  fire  to  his  house, 
filling  a  brown  paper  cone  with  hot  pitch,  thrusting  it  upon  his  shorn  head,  and 
enjoying  the  "  fun"  of  seeing  him  writhe  under  the  torture,  and  laughing  at 
him  as  the  hot  fluid  ran  down  his  face  and  breast.  The  "  rebels"  made  a 
prisoner  of  Lord  Kingston,  and  his  life  was  very  much  in  danger  —  for  he  was 
well  known,  and  much  hated.  They  employed  him,  however,  to  make  terms 
for  them  with  the  Royalists,  and  he  was  allowed  to  depart,  on  his  solemn  prom- 
ise to  perform  their  wish.  The  moment  he  reached  his  friends,  he  made  use 
of  the  informat^i  as  to  the  strength  of  the  "rebels,"  which  he  had  picked  up, 
while  a  captive,  utterly  betrayed  the  trust  reposed  in  him,  and  broke  his 
plighted  word  of  honor,  by  setting  on  his  soldiers  to  massacre  the  trusting  foe. 
The  populace,  who  recollected  this,  constantly  predicted  a  violent  death  to  this 
man  brute.  They  rejoiced  when  the  news  reached  them,  in  October,  1839, 
that  the  Earl  of  Kingston,  after  some  years'  dreadful  sufferings,  had  miserably 
died,  in  London,  of  morbus  pedictdosus  —  the  dreadful  disease  by  which  King 
Herod  perished  in  his  pride.  He  erected  the  Castle  of  Mitchelstown  as  a 
residence  ;  and  I  recollect  that  the  men,  who  quarried  the  limestone  of  which 
it  is  built,  were  paid  only  eight  cents  a  day  for  twelve  hours'  work.  A  very 
different  man  was  his  eldest  son,  the  Viscount  Kingsborough,  author  of  that 
magnificent  work,  "  The  Antiquities  of  Mexico."  Born  in  1795,  he  represent- 
ed his  native  county  (Cork),  in  the  Parliament  of  1820-'26.  Thenceforth,  he 
devoted  himself  to  literary  and  antiouarian  researches.  Li  1831,  was  published 
his  great  work  on  Mexico,  in  six  foi5n  volumes,  got  up  at  a  cost  of  many  thou- 
sand pounds.  The  illusti-ations  consisted  of  fac-simile  engravings  from  di-aw- 
ings  and  MSS.,  in  the  royal  libraries  of  Paris,  Dresden,  and  Berlin  ;  tho 
imperial  library  of  Vienna;  the  library  of  the  Vatican  ;  the  Borgean  Museum; 
the  library  of  the  Institute  at  Bologna ;  the  collections  of  Laud  and  Selden  iu 
the  Bodleian,  at  Oxford.  Four  copies  of  this  work  —  the  largest  ever  pub- 
lished by  an  author,  on  his  own  account  —  were  printed  upon  vellum  ;  of  these 
he  presented  one  to  the  Bodleian  library,  and  anotlier  to  the  British  Museum. 
The  price  of  an  ordinary  copy  was  a  hundred  aiul  eightvjguiijeas.  The  work 
Vol.  II. —  3  w 


50  CLONMEL    ASSIZES.  ,     ^ 

terrible  results.  His  dark  and  massive  countenance,  with^a 
shaggy  and  wild  profusion  of  Lair,  Lis  bold,  imperious  lip,  and 
large  and  deeply-set  eye,  and  Lis  Luge  and  vigorous  frame, 
rendered  liim  a  remarkable  object,  AAdtLout  reference  to  Lis 
higL  rank  and  "station,  and  to  tLe  political  part  whicL  Le  Lad 
played  in  circumstances  of  wLicL  it  is  not  impossible  tLat  Le 
may  witness,  altliougL  Le  sLould  desire  to  avert,  tLe  return. 

TLe  prisoners  at  tlie  bar  stood  composed  and  firm.  Lacy, 
tLe  youngest,  was  dressed  witL  extreme  care  and  neatness. 
He  was  a  tall,  Landsome  young  man,  witli  a  soft  and  LealtLful 
color,  and  a  briglit  and  tranquil  eye.  I  was  struck  by  tLe  un- 
usual wLiteness  of  Lis  Lands,  wLicL  were  loosely  attacLed.to 
each  otLer.  WalsL,  Lis  fellow-prisoner  and  Lis  brotLer  in 
crime,  was  a  stout,  sLort,'and  square-built  man,  witL  a  sturdy 
look,  in  wLicli  tLere  Avas  more  fierceness  tLan  in  Lacy's  coun- 
tenance;  yet  tLe  latter  was  a  far  more  guilty  malefactor,  and 
had  been  engaged  in  numerous  achievements  of  tLe  same  kind, 
wLereas  WalsL  bore  an  excellent  reputation,  and  obtained 
from  Lis  landlord,  Mr.  CreagL,  tLe  Ligliest  te^mony  to  Lis 
cLaracter. 

TLe  Solicitor-General,  Mr.  DoLerty,  rose  tQ  state  tLe  case. 
He  appeared  more  deeply  impressed  tLan  I  Lave  ever  seen 
any  public  officer,  Avith  the  responsibility  AvLicL  Lad  devolved 
upon  Lim ;  and,  by  Lis  solemn  and  empLatic  manner,  rendered 
a  narration,  wLicL  was  pregnant  witL  awful  facts,  so  impres- 
sive, tLat,  during  a  speecL  of.  several  Lours'  continuance,  Le 
kept  attention  upon  tLe  watcL,  and  scarcely  a  noise  Avas  Leard, 
except  wLen  some  piece  of  evidence  AA^as  announced  AvLicL  sur- 
prised tLe  prisoners,  and  made  tLem  give  a  sliglit  start,  in 
wLicL  tlieir  astonisLment  and  alarm  at  tLe  extent  of  tLe  infor- 
mation of  tLe  Government  Avere  expressed.^ 


*■ 


can  not  be  obtained  now,  it  is  so  scarce,  but  a  copy  is  in  the  Astor  Library,  New 
York.  —  Viscount  Kingsborough  was  unfortunately  induced,  to  become  security 
for  debts  incurred  by  his  father,  and  that  worthy  actually  allowed  him  to  be- 
come  an  inmate  of  the  SheriiFs  Prison,  in  Dublin,  where  he  died,  of  typhus 
fever,  on  the  27th  of  February,  1837,  aged  forty-two. — M. 

*  The  speech  of  Mr.  Doherty  was  highly  eloquent.  He  took  occasion  to 
describe  the  general  condition  of  the  county  in  language  equally  simple,  pow- 
erful, and  true.     Tp  the  causes  of  that  condition  he  did  not  advc-t,  for  it  did 


THE  MCEDEE  OF  DANIEL  MARA.  51 

♦  They  preserved  tlieir  composure  while  Mr.  Doherty  was  de- 
tailing the  evidence  of  Fitzgerald,  for  they  well  knew  that  he 
had  become  what  is  technically  called  "  a  stag,"  and  turned 
informer.  Neither  were  they  greatly  moved  at  learning  that 
another  traitor  of  the  name  of  Ryan  was  to  be  produced,  for 
rumors  had  gone  abroad  that  he  was  to  corroborate  Fitzgerald. 
They  were  well  aware  that  the  jury  would  require  more  evi- 
dence than  the  coincidence  of  swearing  between  two  accom- 
plices could  supply.  It  is,  indeed,  held  that  one  accomplice 
can  sustain  another  for  the  purposes  of  conviction,  and  that 
their  concurrence  is  sufficient  to  warrant  a  verdict  of  guilty ; 
still  juries  are  in  the  habit  of  demanding  some  better  founda- 
tion for  their  findings,  and,  before  they  take  life  away,  exact  a 
confirmation  from  some  pure  and  unquestionable  source. 

The  counsel  for  the  prisoners  participated  with  them  in  the 
belief  that  the  Grown  would  not  be  able  to  produce  any  wit- 
nesses except  accomplices,  and  listened,  therefore,  to  the  de- 
tails of  the  murder  of  Daniel  Mara,  however  minute,  without 
much  apprehelision  for  their  clients,  until  Mr.  Doherty,  turning 
toward  the  dQ|;k,  and  lifting  up  and  shaking  his  hand,  pro- 
nounced the  naiae  of  "  Kate  Costello."  It  smote  the  prisoners 
with  dismay  !     At  the  time,  however,  that  Mr.  Doherty  made 

not  fall  within  his  official  province  to  do  so ;  but  he  has  since,  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  pointed  out  what  he  conceived  to  be  the  real  sources  of  these  de- 
plorable evils.  I  regret  that  Mr.  Doherty  did  not  take  the  pains  to  publish  his 
speeches  at  Clonmel.  Justice  has  not  been  done  to  the  diction  in  the  newspapers 
in  which  they  were  reported.  The  publication  of  those  speeches  in  an  authentic 
form  would  not  only  evince  the  talents  of  the  able  advocate  by  whom  they  were 
delivered,  but  would  also  have  the  effect  of  showing,  in  a  striking  view,  the 
unfairness  of  not  allowing  the  counsel  for  the  prison^-  s  to  speak,  while  the 
Crown  enlists  all  the  power  of  rhetoric  against  them.  The  faalt  is  not  with 
Mr.  Doherty,  but  in  the  system.  '*  Aperi  os  tuum  muto,  et  ^^ndica  inopem,"  is 
written  in  golden  letters  in  the  Court.  The  law,  instead  of  vindicating  the 
poor  man,  shuts  his  counsel's  mouth.  I  have  seen  many  cases  where  a  pov»- 
erful  speech  might  have  saved  a  prisoner's  life.  A  good  appeal  to  the  Jury 
would  have  preserved  two  of  the  men  who  were  convicted  of  the  murder  of 
Bany,  at  Clonmel.  It  is  said  that  Judges  would  not  have  time  to  go  through 
the  trials,  if  counsel  for  the  prisoners  were  allowed  to  speak.  In  other  words, 
they  would  be  delayed  from  their  vacation  villas  upon  circuit.  What  an  excuse ! 
[[The  law  has  been  changed  since  this  was  written,  and  counsel  are  allowed  to 
a/^  prisoners.  —  M."] 


52  **  GLONMEL    ASSIZES. 

this  announcement,  he  was  liimself  uncertain,  I  believe,  whether 
Kate  Costello  would  consent  to  give  the  necessary  evidence; 
and  there  was  reason  to  calculate  upon  her  reluctance  to  make 
any  disclosure  by  which  the  lives  of  "  her  people,"  as  the  lower 
orders  call  their  kindred,  should  be  affected. 

The  statement  of  Mr.  Doherty,  which  was  afterward  fully 
made  out  in  proof,  showed  that  a  wide  conspiracy  had  been 
framed  in  order  to  murder  Philip  Mara's  brothers.  Fitzgerald 
and  Lacy,  who  did  not  reside  in  the  neighborhood  of  Rath 
Cannon,  were  sent  for  by  the  relatives  of  Patrick  Grace,  as  it 
was  well  known  that  they  were  ready  for  the  undertaking  of 
"  the  job."  They  received  their  instructions,  and  were  joined 
by  other  assassins.  The  band  proceeded  to  Eath  Cannon,  in 
order  to  execute  their  purpose,  but  an  accident  prevented  their 
victims  from  coming  to  the  place  where  they  were  expected, 
and  the  assassination  was,  in  consequence,  adjourned  for  an- 
other week.  In  the  interval,  however,  they  did  not  relent ; 
but,  on  the  contrary,  a  new  supply  of  murderers  was  collected, 
and  on  Sunday,  the  30th  day  of  September  [1828]^  the  day  pre- 
ceding the  murder,  they  met  again  in  the  house  of  a  farmer,  of 
the  name  of  Jack  Keogh,  who  lived  beside  the  barrack  where 
the  Maras  were  at  work.  Here  they  were  attended  by  Kate 
Costello,  the  fatal  witness,  by  whom  their  destiny  was  to  be 
sealed. 

On  the  morning  of  Monday,  the  1st  of  October,  they  pro- 
ceeded to  an  elevation  called  "  The  Grove,"  a  hill  covered 
with  trees,  in  which  arms  had  been  deposited.  This  hill  over- 
looked the  barrack  where  the  Maras  were  at  work.  A  party 
of  conspirators  joined  the  chief  assassins  on  this  spot,  and  Kate 
Costello,  a  servant  and  near  relative  of  the  Keoghs  (who  were 
engaged  in  the  murder),  again  attended  them.  She  brought 
them  food  and  spirits.  From  this  ambush  they  remained  watch-, 
ing  their  prey  until  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  when  it  was 
announced  that  the  Maras  Avere  coming  down  from  the  scaf- 
folding on  which  they  were  raising  the  barrack.  It  appeared 
that  some  murderers  did  not  know  the  persons  whose  lives 
they  were  to  take  away,  and  that  their  dress  was  mentioned 
as  the  means  of  recognition.     They  advanced  to  the  number 


THE  MURDER  OF  DANIEL  MARA.  63 

of  eight,  and,  as  I  have  already  intimated,  succeeded  in  slay- 
ing one  only  of  the  three  brothers. 

But  the  most  illustrative  incident  in  the  whole  transaction 
was  not  what  took  place  at  the  murder,  but  a  circumstance 
which  immediately  succeeded  it.  The  assassins,  with  their 
hands  red  with  the  gore  of  man,  proceeded  to  the  house  of  a 
farmer  in  good  circumstances,  whose  name  was  John  Russel. 
He  was  a  man  of  a  decent  aspect  and  demeanor,  above  the 
lower  class  of  peasants  in  station  and  habits,  was  not  destitute 
of  education,  spoke  and  reasoned  well,  and  was  accounted  very 
orderly  and  well  conducted.  One  would  suppose  that  he 
would  have  closed  his  doors  against  the  wretches  who  were 
still  reeking  Avith  their  crime.  He  gave  them  welcome,  ten- 
dered them  his  hospitality,  and  provided  them  with  food.  In 
the  room  where  they  were  received  by  this  hoary  delinquent, 
there  were  two  individuals  of  a  very  different  character  and 
aspect  from  each  other.  The  one  was  a  girl,  Mary  Russel,  the 
daughter  of  old  Jack  Eussel,  the  proprietor  of  the  house.  She 
was  yaung,  and  of  an  exceedingly  interesting  appearance  ;  her 
manners  were  greatly  superior  to  persons  of  her  class,  and  she 
was  delicate  and  gentle  in  her  habitual  conduct  and  demeanor. 
Near  her  there  sat  an  old  woman,  in  the  most  advanced  stage 
of  life,  w^ho  was  a  kind  of  Elspeth  among  them,  and  from  her 
age  and  relationship  was  an  object  of  respect  and  regard.  The 
moment  the  assassins  entered,  Mary  Eussel  rushed  up  to  them, 
and,  with  a  vehement  earnestness,  exclaimed,  "  Did  you  do  any 
good  V  They  stated  in  reply  that  one  of  the  Maras  was  shot ; 
when  Peg  Eussel  (the  withered  hag),  who  sat  moping  in  the 
revery  of  old  age,  till  her  attention  was  aroused  by  the  sangui- 
nary intelligence,  lifted  her  shrivelled  hand,  and  cried  out  with 
a  shrill  and  vehement  bitterness,  "  You  might  as  well  not  have 
killed  any,  since  you  did  not  kill  them  all !" 

Strange  and  dreadful  condition  of  Ireland  !  The  witness  to 
a  murder  denounces  it.  He  flies  the  country.  His  brothers, 
for  Lis  crime,  are  doomed  to  die.  The  whole  population  con- 
federate in  their  death.  For  weeks  the  conspiracy  is  planned, 
and  no  relenting  spirit  interposes  in  their  slaughterous  deliber- 
ations.    The  appointed  day  arrives,  and  the  murder  of  an  inno- 


54  CLONMEL    ASSIZES. 

cent  man  is  effected,  while  the  light  is  still  shining,  and  with 
the  eye  of  man,  which  is  as  little  feared  as  that  of  God,  upon 
them.  The  murderers  leave  the  spot  where  their  fellow-crea- 
ture lies  weltering;  and,  instead  of  being  regarded  as  objects 
of  execration  and  of  horror,  are  chid  by  women  for  their  re- 
missness in  the  work  of  death,  and  for  the  scantiness  of  the 
blood  which  they  had  poured  out !  Thus  it  is  that  in  this 
unfortunate  country  not  only  men  are  made  barbarous,  but 
women  are  unsexed,  and  filled — 

"  from  the  crown  to  the  toe,  top-full 


Of  direst  cruelty !" 

These  were  the  facts  which  Mr.  Doherty  stated,  and  they 
were  established  by  the  evidence.  The  first  witness  was  Fitz- 
gerald. When  he  was  called,  he  did  not  appear  on  the  instant, 
for  he  was  kept  in  a  room  adjoining  the  Court,  in  order  that 
he  might  not  avail  himself  of  the  statement,  and  fit  his  evidence 
to  it.  His  testimony  was  of  such  importance,  and  it  was  known 
that  so  much  depended  upon  it,  that  his  arrival  was  waited  for 
with  strong  expectation  ;  and,  in  the  interval  before  his  appear- 
ance on  the  table,  the  mind  had  leisure  to  form  some  conjec- 
tural picture  of  what  he  in  all  likelihood  was.  I  imagined 
that  he  must  be  some  fierce-looking,  savage  wretch,  with  base- 
ness and  perfidy,  intermingled  with  atrocity,  in  his  brow,  and 
whose  meanness  would  bespeak  the  informer,  as  his  ferocity 
would  proclaim  the  assassin.     I  was  deceived. 

His  coming  was  announced  —  way  Avas  made  for  him  —  and 
I  saw  leap  upon  the  table,  with  an  air  of  easy  indifference  and 
manly  familiarity,  a  tall,  athletic  young  man,  about  two  or 
three  and  twenty,  with  a  countenance  as  intelligent  in  expres- 
sion and  symmetrical  in  feature,  as  his  limbs  were  vigorous 
and  well-proportioned.  His  head  was  perfectly  shaped,  and 
surmounted  a  neck  of  singular  strength  and  breadth,  which 
lay  open  and  rose  out  of  a  chest  of  unusual  massiveness  and 
dilation.  His  eyes  were  of  deep  and  brilliant  black,  full  of 
fire  and  energy,  intermixed  with  an  expression  of  slyness  and 
sagacity.  They  had  a  peculiarly-watchful  look,  and  indicated 
a  vehemence  of  character,  checked  and  tempered  by  a  cautious 


MUKDEE   OF   DANIEL   MAKA.  55 

^nd  observant  spirit.  The  nose  was  well  formed  and  deeply 
vooted,  but  rose  at  the  end  with  some  suddenness,  which  took 
off  from  the  dignity  of  the  countenance,  but  displayed  consid- 
erable breadth  about  the  nostrils,  which  were  made  to  breathe 
fierceness  and  disdain.  The  mouth  of  the  villain  (for  he  was 
one  of  the  first  magnitude)  was  composed  of  thick  but  well- 
shaped  lips,  in  which  firmness  and  intrepidity  were  strongly 
marked ;  and,  when  opened,  disclosed  a  range  of  teeth  of  the 
finest  form  and  color.  His  hair  was  short  and  thick,  but  his 
cheek  was  so  fresh  and  fair,  that  he  scarcely  seemed  to  have 
ever  had  any  beard. 

The  fellow's  dress  was  calculated  to  set  off  his  figure.  It 
left  his  breast  almost  bare,  and,  the  knees  of  his  breeches  being 
open,  a  great  part  of  his  muscular  legs  appeared  without  cov- 
ering, as  his  stockings  did  not  reach  to  the  knee.  He  was 
placed  upon  the  chair  appropriated  to  witnesses,  and  turned 
at  once  to  the  counsel  for  the  Crown  in  order  to  narrate  his  own 
doings  as  well  as  those  of  his  associates  in  depravity.  I  have 
never  seen  a  cooler,  more  precise,  methodical,  and  consistent 
jv^itness. 

He  detailed  every  circumstance  to  the  minutest  point,  which 
had  happened  during  a  month's  time,  with  a  wonderful  accu- 
racy. So  far  from  manifesting  any  anxiety  to  conceal  or  to 
excuse  his  own  guilt,  he  on  the  contrary  set  it  forth  in  the 
blackest  colors.  He  made  himself  a  prominent  actor  in  the 
business  of  blood.  The  life  which  he  led  was  as  singular  as  it 
was  atrocious.  He  spent  his  time  in  committing  outrages  at 
night,  and  during  the  day  in  exacting  homage  from  the  peas- 
antry, whom  he  had  inspired  with  a  deep  dread  of  him.  He 
walked  through  the  county  in  arms,  and  compelled  every 
peasant  to  give  him  bed  and  board  wherever  he  appeared.  In 
the  caprices  of  his  tyranny,  he  would  make  persons  who 
chanced  to  pass  him,  kneel  down  and  offer  him  reverence, 
while  lie  presented  his  musket  at  their  heads.  Yet  he  was  a 
favorite  with  the  populace,  who  pardoned  the  outrages  com- 
mitted on  themselves,  on  account  of  his  readiness  to  avenge 
the  affronts  or  the  injuries  which  they  suffered  from  others. 
Villain  as  the  fellow  was,  it  was  not  the  reward  which  tempted 


66  CLONIkrEL   ASSIZES. 

him  to  betray  his  associates.  Though  two  tliousand  pounds 
sterling  had  been  offered  by  Government,  he  gave  no  informa- 
tion for  several  months  ;  and  when  he  did  give  it,  it  was  to 
save  his  life,  which  he  had  forfeited  by  a  highway  robbery, 
for  which  he  had  been  arrested.  He  seemed  exceedingly  anx- 
ious to  impress  upon  the  crowd  that,  though  he  was  "  a  stag," 
it  was  not  for  gold  that  he  had  sold  the  cause.  Life  itself  was 
the  only  bribe  that  could  move  his  honor,  and  even  the  tempt- 
ation which  the  instinctive  passion  for  existence  held  out  to 
him  was  for  a  long  while  resisted. 

Mr.  Hatchell  cross-examined  this  formidable  attestator  with 
extraordinary  skill  and  dexterity,  but  he  was  still  unable  to 
shake  his  evidence.  It  was  perfectly  consistent  and  compact, 
smooth  and  round,  without  ^y  point  of  discrepancy  on  which 
the  most  dexterous  practitioner  could  lay  a  strong  hold.  The 
most  unfavorable  circumstance  to  his  cross-examiner  was  his 
openness  and  candor.  He  had  an  ingenuousness  in  his  atro- 
city which  defied  all  the  ordinary  expedients  of  counsel.  Most 
informers  allege  that  they  are  influenced  by  the  pure  love  of 
justice  to  betray  their  accomplices.  This  statement  "goes  to 
shake  their  credit,  because  they  are  manifestly  perjured  in 
the  declaration.  Fitzgerald,  however,  took  a  very  different 
course.  He  disclaimed  all  interest  in  the  cause  of  justice,  and 
repeatedly  stated  that  he  would  not  have  informed,  except  to 
rescue  himself  from  the  halter  which  was  fastened  round  his 
neck.  When  he  left  the  table,  he  impressed  every  man  who 
heard  him  with  a  conviction  of,  not  only  his  great  criminality, 
but  his  extraordinary  talents. 

He  was  followed  by  another  accomplice,  of  the  name  of 
E,yan,  who  was  less  remarkable  than  Fitzgerald,  but  whose 
statement  was  equally  consistent,  and  its  parts  as  adhesive  to 
each  other,  as  the  more  important  informers.  They  had  been 
left  in  separate  jails,  and  had  not  had  any  communication,  so 
that  it  could  not  be  suggested  that  their  evidence  was  the  result 
of  a  comparison  of  notes,  and  of  a  conspiracy  against  the  pris- 
oners. This  Ryan  also  alleged  that  he  had  informed  merely 
to  save  his  life. 

These  witnesses  were  succeeded  by  several,  who  deposed  to 


MIJRDER    OF   DANIEL   MARA.  57 

minute  incidents  which  went  to  corroborate  the  infoimers ;  but 
notwithstanding  that  a  strong  case  had  been  made  out  by  tlic 
Crown,  still  the  testimony  of  some  untainted  witness  to  the 
leading  fact  was  requisite,  and  the  counsel  for  the  prosecution 
felt  that  on  Kate  Oostello  the  conviction  must  still  depend. 
She  had  not  taken  any  participation  in  the  murder.  She  could 
not  be  regarded  as  a  member  of  the  conspiracy ;  she  was  a 
servant  in  the  house  of  old  John  Keogh,  but  not  an  agent  in 
the  business ;  and  if  she  confirmed  what  the  witnesses  had  de- 
posed to,  it  was  obvious  that  a  conviction  would  ensue ;  while, 
upon  the  other  hand,  if  she  w^as  not  brought  forward,  the  want 
of  her  testimony  would  produce  a  directly  opposite  result. 

She  was  called,  and  a  suspense  far  deeper  than  the  expecta- 
tion which  had  preceded  the  evidence  of  Fitzgerald  Avas  appa- 
rent in  every  face.  She  did  not  come,  and  was  again  sum- 
moned into  court.  Still  Kate  Costello  did  not  appear.  Re- 
peated requisitions  were  sent  by  the  Solicitor-General,  but 
without  efi'ect.  At  length,  every  one  began  to  conjecture  that 
she  would  disappoint  and  foil  the  Crown,  and  the  friends  of  the 
prisoners  murmured  that  "  Kate  Costello  would  not  turn  against 
her  people."  An  obvious  feeling  of  satisfaction  pervaded  the 
crowd,  and  the  prisoners  exhibited  a  proportionate  solicitude, 
in  which  hope  seemed  to  predominate. 

Suddenly,  however,  the  chamber-door  communicating  with 
the  room  where  the  witnesses  were  kept  was  opened,  and  one 
of  the  most  extraordinary  figures  that  ever  appeared  in  that 
strange  theatre,  an  Irish  court  of  justice,  was  produced.  A 
withered,  diminutive  woman,  who  was  unable  to  support  her- 
self, and  whose  feet  gave  way  at  every  step,  into  which  she 
was  impelled  by  her  attendants,  was  seen  entering  the  court, 
and  tottering  toward  the  table.  Her  face  was  covered,  and  it 
was  impossible,  for  some  time  after  she  had  been  placed  on  the 
table,  to  trace  her  features  ;  but  her  hands,  which  were  as  white 
and  clammy  as  a  corpse's,  and  seemed  to  have  undergone  the 
first  process  of  decomposition,  shook  and  shuddered,  and  a  thrill 
ran  through  the  whole  of  her  miserable  and  wornout  frame.  A 
few  minutes  elapsed  before  her  veil  was  removed  ;  and,  when 
it  was,  the  most  ghastly  face  which  I  have  ever  observed  was 

3* 


58  CLONMEL   ASSIZES. 

disclosed !  Her  eyes  were  quite  closed,  and  tlie  eyelids 
shrunken  as  if  by  the  touch  of  death.  The  lips  were  like 
ashes,  and  remained  open  and  without  movement.  Her  breath- 
ing Avas  scarcely  perceptible,  and,  as  her  head  lay  on  her 
shoulder,  her  long  black  hair  fell  dishevelled,  and  added  to 
the  general  character  of  disordered  horror  which  was  expressed 
in  her  demeanor. 

Now  that  she  was  produced,  she  seemed  little  calculated  to 
be  of  any  use.  Mr.  Doherty  repeatedly  addressed  himself  to 
her,  and  entreated  her  to  answer.  She  seemed  unconscious 
even  of  the  sound  of  his  voice.  At  length,  however,  with  the 
aid  of  water,  which  was  applied  to  her  mouth,  and  thrown  in 
repeated  aspersions  over  her  face,  she  was  in  some  degree  re- 
stored, and  was  able  to  breathe  a  few  words.  An  interval  of 
minutes  elapsed  betAveen  every  question  and  answer.  Her 
voice  was  so  low  as  to  be  scarcely  audible,  and  was  rather  an 
inarticulate  whisper  than  the  utterance  of  any  connected  sen- 
tence. She  was,  with  a  great  deal  to  do,  conducted  by  the  ex- 
aminer through  some  of  the  preliminary  incidents,  and  at  last 
was  brought  to  the  scene  in  the  grove  where  the  murderers 
were  assembled. 

It  remained  that  she  should  recognise  the  prisoners.  Un- 
less this  were  done,  nothing  would  have  been  accomplished. 
The  rod  with  which  culprits  are  identified  Avas  put  into  her 
hand,  and  she  was  desh-ed  to  stand  up,  to  turn  to  the  dock,  and 
to  declare  Avhether  she  saAv  in  court  any  of  the  men  Avhom  she 
had  seen  in  the  grove  on  the  day  of  the  murder.  For  a  con- 
siderable time  she  could  not  be  got  to  rise  from  her  seat ;  and 
when  she  did,  and  stood  up  after  a  great  effort  over  herself, 
before  she  had  turned  round,  but  while  the  rod  was_  trembling 
in  her  hand,  another  extraordinary  incident  took  place. 

Walsh,  one  of  the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  cried  out  Avith  the 
most  vehement  gesture  —  "0  God!  you  are  going  to  murder 
me!  I'll  not  stand  hereto  be  murdered,  for  I'm  doAvnright 
murdered,  God  help  me  !"  This  cry,  uttered  by  a  man  almost 
frenzied  Avith  excitation,  drew  the  attention  of  the  whole  court 
to  the  prisoner ;  and  the  Judge  inquired  of  him  of  what  ho 
complained.    -Walsh  then  stated,  with  more  composure,  that  it 


MUKDEE  OF   DANIEL   MAEA.  59* 

was  unfair,  while  there  was  nobody  in  the  dock  but  Lacy  and 
himself,  to  desire  Kate  Oostello  to  look  at  him,  for  that  he  was 
marked  out  to  her  Avhere  he  stood.  This  was  a  very  just  ob- 
servation, and  Judge  Moore  immediately  ordered  that  other 
prisoners  should  be  brought  from  the  jail  into  the  dock,  and 
that  Walsh  should  be  shown  to  Kate  Oostello  in  the  midst  of 
a  crowd. 

The  jail  was  at  a  considerable  distance,  and  a  good  deal  of 
time  was  consumed -in  complying  with  the  directions  of  the 
Judge.  Kate  Oostello  sank  down  again  upon  her  chair;  and, 
in  the  interval  before  the  arrival  of  the  other  prisoners,  we  en- 
gaged in  conjectures  as  to  the  likelihood  of  Walsh  being  iden- 
tified. She  had  never  seen  him,  except  at  the  grove,  and  it 
was  possible  that  she  might  not  remember  him.  In  that  event 
his  life  was  safe.  At  last  the  other  prisoners  were  introduced 
into  the  dock.  The  sound  of  their  fetters  as  they  entered  the 
court,  and  the  grounding  of  the  soldiers'  muskets  on  the  pave- 
ment, struck  me. 

It  was  now  four  o'clock  in  the  morning;  the  candles  were 
almost  wasted  to  their  sockets,  and  a  dim  and  uncertain  light 
was  diffused  through  the  court.  Haggardness  sat  upon  the 
spectators,  and  yet  no  weariness  or  exhaustion  appeared.  The 
frightful  interest  of  the  scene  preserved  the  mind  from  fatigue. 
The  dock  was  crowded  with  malefactors,  and,  brought  as  they 
were  in  order  that  guilt  of  all  kinds  should  be  confused  and  blend- 
ed, they  exhibited  a  most  singular  spectacle.  This  assemblage 
of  human  beings  laden  with  chains  was,  perhaps,  more  melan- 
choly from  the  contrast  which  they  presented  between  their 
condition  and  their  aspect.  Even  the  pale  light  which  glim- 
mered through  the  court  did  not  prevent  their  cheeks  from 
looking  ruddy  and  healthful.  They  had  been  awakened  in 
their  lonely  cells  in  order  to  be  produced,  and,  as  they  were 
not  aware  of  the  object  of  arraying  them  together,  there  was 
some  surprise  mixed  with  fear  in  their  looks.  I  could  not  help 
whispering  to  myself  as  I  surveyed  them,  "  What  a  noble  and 
fine  race  of  men  are  here,  and  how  much  have  they  to  answer 
for,  who,  by  degrading,  have  demoralized  such  a  people !" 

The  desire  of  Walsh  having  been  complied  with,  the  witness 


60  CLONMEL    ASSIZES. 

was  called  upon  a  second  time  to  place  the  rod  upon  his  head. 
She  rose  again,  and  turned  round,  holding  the  fatal  index  in 
her  hand.  There  was  a  deep  silence  through  the  court ;  the 
face  of  Walsh  exhibited  the  most  intense  anxiety,  as  the  eyes 
of  Kate  Costello  rested  npon  the  place  where  he  stood.  She 
appeared  at  first  not  to  recognise  him,  and  the  rod  hung  loosely 
in  her  hand.  I  thought,  as  I  saw  her  eyes  traversing  the  as- 
semblage of  malefactors,  that  she  either  did  not  know  him,  or 
would  affect  not  to  remember  him.  At  last,  however,  she 
raised  the  rod,  and  stretched  it  forth ;  but,  before  it  was  laid 
on  the  devoted  head,  a  female  voice  exclaimed,  "Oh,  Kate!" 
This  cry,  which  issued  from  the  crowd,  and  was  probably  the 
exclamation  of  some  relative  of  the  Keoghs,  whose  destiny  de- 
pended on  that  of  "Walsh,  thrilled  the  witness  to  the  core.  She 
felt  the  adjuration  in  the  very  recesses  of  her  being. 

After  a  shudder,  she  collected  herself  again,  and  advanced 
again  toward  the  dock.  She  raised  the  rod  a  second  time,  and, 
having  laid  it  on  the  head  of  Walsh,  who  gave  himself  up  as 
lost  the  moment  it  touched  him,  she  sank  back  into  her  chair. 
The  feeling  which  had  filled  the  heart  of  every  spectator  here 
found  a  vent,  and  a  deep  murmur  was  heard  through  the  whole 
court,  mingled  with  sounds  of  stifled  execration  from  the  mass 
of  the  people  in  the  background.  Lacy  also  was  identified  ; 
and  here  it  may  be  said  that  the  trial  closed.  Walsh,  who, 
while  he  entertained  any  hope,  had  been  almost  convulsed  with 
agitation,  resumed  his  original  composure.  He  took  no  further 
interest. in  the  proceeding,  except  when  his  landlord  gave  him 
a  high  character  for  integrity  and  good  conduct ;  and  this  com- 
mendation he  seemed  rather  to  consider  as  a  sort  of  bequest 
which  he  should  leave  to  his  kindred,  than  as  the  means  of  sa- 
ving his  life.  It  is  almost  unnecessary  to  add  that  the  prisoners 
were  found  guilty. 

Kate  Costello,  whose  evidence  was  of  such  importance  to  the 
Crown,  had  acted  as  a  species  of  menial  in  the  house  of  old 
John  Keogh,  but  was  a  near  relation  of  her  master.  It  is  not 
uncommon  among  the  lower  orders  to  introduce  some  depen- 
dent relative  into  the  family,  who  goes  through  offices  of  utility 
which  are  quite  free  from  degradation,  and  is  at  the  same  tima 


THE   MURDER    OF    DANIEL    MARA.  61 

treated,  to  a  great  extent,  as  an  equal.  Kate  Oostello  sat 
down  with  old  Jack  Keogli  and  his  sons  at  their  meals,  and 
was  accounted  one  of  themselves.  The  most  implicit  trust  was 
placed  in  her ;  and  on  one  of  the  assassins  observing  that  "  Kate 
Costello  could  hang  them  all,"  another  observed  that  "  there 
was  no  fear  of  Kate."  Nor  would  Kate  ever  have  betrayed 
the  men  who  had  placed  their  confidence  in  her,  from  any  mer- 
cenary motives.  Fitzgerald  had  stated  that  she  had  been  at 
"  the  Grove"  in  the  morning  of  the  day  on  which  the  murder 
was  committed,  and  that  she  could  confirm  his  testimony.  She 
was  in  consequence  arrested,  and  was  told  that  she  should  be 
hanged  unless  she  disclosed  the  truth.  Terror  extorted  from 
her  the  revealments  which  were  turned  to  such  account.  When 
examined  as  a  witness  on  the  trial  of  Lacy  and  Walsh,  her 
agitation  did  not  arise  from  any  regard  for  them,  but  from  her 
consciousness  that  if  they  were  convicted  her  own  relatives 
and  benefactors  must  share  in  their  fate. 

The  trial  of  Patrick,  and  John  Keogh  came  on  upon  Satur- 
day, the  5th  of  April,  some  days  after  the  conviction  of  Lacy 
and  of  Walsh,  who  had  been  executed  in  the  interval.  The 
trial  of  the  Keoghs  had  been  postponed  at  the  instance  of  the 
prisoners,  but  it  was  understood  that  the  Crown  had  no  objec- 
tion to  the  delay,  as  great  difficulty  was  supposed  to  have 
arisen  in  persuading  Kate  Costello  to  give  completion  to  the 
useful  work  in  w^hich  she  had  been  engaged.  It  was  said  that 
the  friends  of  the  Keoghs  had  got  access  to  her,  and  that  she 
had  refused  to  come  forward  against  "her  people."  It  was 
also  rumored  that  she  had  entertained  an  attachment  for  John 
Keogh,  and  although  he  had  wronged  her,  and  she  had  suffered 
severe  detriment  from  their  criminal  connection,  that  she  loved 
him  still,  and  would  not  take  his  life  away.  There  was,  there- 
fore, enough  of  doubt  incidental  to  the  trial  of  the  Keoghs  to 
give  it  the  interest  of  uncertainty;  and,  however  fatal  the 
omen  which  the  conviction  of  their  brother-conspirators  held 
out,  still  it  Avas  supposed  that  Kate  Costello  would  recoil  fi-om 
her  terrible  task. 

The  court  was  as  much  crowded  as  it  had  been  on  the  first 
trial,  upon  the  morning  on  which  the  two  Keoghs  were  put  at 


62  CLONMEL    ASSIZES. 

the  bar.  They  were  more  immediate  agents  in  the  assassina 
tion.  It  had  been  in  a  great  measure  planned,  as  well  as  exe- 
cuted by  them  ;  and  there  was  a  further  circumstance  of  aggra- 
vation in  their  having  been  in  habits  of  intimacy  with  the  de- 
ceased. When  placed  at  the  bar,  their  appearance  struck 
every  spectator  as  in  strange  anomaly  with  their  misdeeds. 
They  both  seemed  to  be  farmers  of  the  most  respectable  class. 
Patrick,  the  younger,  was  perfectly  well  clad.  He  had  a  blue 
coat  and  white  waistcoat,  of  the  best  materials  used  by  the 
peasantry  :  a  black  silk-handkerchief  was  carefully  knotted  on 
his  neck.  He  was  lower  in  stature  and  of  less  athletic  propor- 
tions than  his  brother  John,  but  had  a  more  determined  and 
resolute  physiognomy.  He  looked  alert,  quick,  and  active. 
The  other  was  of  gigantic  stature,  and  of  immense  width  of 
shoulder  and  strength  of  limb.  He  rose  beyond  every  man  in 
court,  and  towered  in  the  dock.  His  dress  was  not  as  neatly 
arranged  as  his  brother's,  and  his  neck  was  Avithout  covering, 
which  served  to  exhibit  the  hugeness  of  his  proportions.  He 
looked  in  the  vigor  of  powerful  manhood.  His  face  Avas  ruddy 
and  blooming,  and  was  quite  destitute  of  all  darkness  and  ma- 
levolence of  expression.  There  Avas  perhaps  too  much  fullness 
about  the  lips,  and  some  traces  of  savageness  as  well  as  of 
voluptuousness  might  have  been  detected  by  a  minute  physi- 
ognomist in  their  exuberance  ;  but  the  bright  blue  of  his  mild 
and  intelligent  eyes  counterbalanced  this  evil  indication. 

The  aspect  of  these  two  young  men  Avas  greatly  calculated 
to  excite  interest ;  but  there  Avas  another  object  in  court  which 
was  even  more  deserving  of  attention.  On  the  left  hand  of  his 
two  sons,  and  just  near  the  youngest  of  them,  sat  an  old  man, 
whose  head  was  covered  with  a  profusion  of  gray  hairs,  and  Avho, 
although  evidently  greatly  advanced  in  years,  Avas  of  a  hale  and 
healthful  aspect.  I  did  not  notice  him  at  first,  but  in  the  course 
of  the  trial,  the  glare  Avhicli  his  eye  gradually  acquired,  and 
the  passing  of  all  color  from  his  cheek,  as  the  fate  of  his^sons 
grew  to  certainty,  drcAV  my  observation, ^and  I  learned  on  in- 
quiry, what  I  had  readily  conjectured,  that  he  AA^as  the  father 
of  the  prisoners  at  the  bar.  He  did  not  utter  a  AA^ord  during 
the  fifteen  or  sixteen  hours  that  he  remained  in  attendance 


THE   MURDER   OF   DANIEL   MARA.  63 

upon  the  dreadful  scene  which  was  going  on  before  him.  The 
appearance  of  Kate  Costello  herself,  whom  he  had  fostered, 
fed,  and  cherished,  scarcely  seemed  to  move  him  from  his  ter- 
rible tranquillity. 

She  was,  as  on  the  former  occasion,  the  pivot  of  the  whole 
case.  The  anticipations  that  she  would  not  give  evidence 
"  against  her  own  flesh  and  blood"  were  wholly  groundless, 
for  on  her  second  exhibition  as  a  witness  she  enacted  her  part 
with  much  more  firmness  and  determination.  She  had  before 
kept  her  eyes  almost  closed,  but  she  now  opened  and  fixed 
them  upon  the  counsel,  and  exhibited  great  quickness  and 
shrewdness  in  their  expression,  and  watched  the  cross-exami- 
nation with  great  wariness  and  dexterity.  I  was  greatly  sur- 
prised at  this  change,  and  can  only  refer  it  to  the  spirit  of  de- 
termination which  her  passage  of  the  first  difficulty  on  the  for- 
mer trial  had  produced.  The  first  step  in  blood  had  been 
taken,  and  she  trod  more  firmly  in  taking  the  second.  What- 
ever may  have  been  the  cause,  she  certainly  exhibited  little 
compunction  in  bringing  her  cousins  to  justice,  and  laid  the 
rod  on  the  head  of  her  relative  and  supposed  paramour  without 
remorse. 

At  an  early  hour  on  Sunday  morning  the  verdict  of  guilty 
was  brought  in.  The  prisoners  at  the  bar  received  it  without 
surprise,  but  turned  deadly  pale.  The  change  in  John  Keogh 
was  more  manifest,  as  in  the  morning  of  Saturday  he  stood 
blooming  with  health  at  the  bar,  and  was  now  as  white  as  a 
shroud.  The  Judge  told  them  that  as  it  was  the  morning  of 
Easter  Sunday  (which  is  commemorative  of  the  resurrection  of 
the  dead),  he  should  not  then  pronounce  sentence  upon  them. 
They  cried  out,  "  A  long  day,  a  long  day,  my  Lord  !"  and  at 
the  same  time  begged  that  their  bodies  might  be  given  to  their 
father.  This  prayer  was  uttered  with  a  sound  resembling  the 
wail  of  an  Irish  funeral,  and  accompanied  with  a  most  pathetic 
gesture.  They  both  swung  themselves  with  a  sort  of  oscilla- 
tion up  and  down,  with  their  heads  thrown  back,  striking  their 
hands,  with  the  fingers  half  closed,  against  their  breasts,  in  the 
manner  which  Roman  Catholics  use  in  saying  "  TJie  ConjiteorP 
The  reference  which  they  made  to  their  father  drew  my  atteu- 


64  CLONMEL    ASSIZES. 

tion  to  the  miserable  old  man.  Two  persons,  friends  of  his, 
had  attended  him  in  court;  and  when  his  sons,  after  having 
been  founi  g'uiltjT-,  were  about  to  be  removed,  he  was  lifted  on 
the  table,  on  which  he  was  vvith  difficulty  sustained,  and  was 
brought  near  to  the  dock.  He  wanted  to  embrace  John  Keogh, 
and  stretched  out  his  arms  toward  him.  The  latter,  whose 
manliness  now  forsook  him,  leaned  over  the  iron  spikes  to  his 
full  length,  got  the  old  man  into  his  bosom,  and,  while  his  tears 
ran  down  his  face,  pressed  him  long  and  closely  to  his  heart. 
They  were  at  length  separated,  and  the  sons  were  removed  to 
the  cells  appointed  for  the  condemned. 

The  Judge  left  the  bench,  and  the  court  was  gradually 
cleared.  Still  the  father  of  the  prisoners  remained  between 
his  two  attendants  almost  insensible.  He  was  almost  the  last 
to  depart.  I  followed  him  out.  It  was  a  dark  and  stormy 
night.  The  wind  beat  full  against  the  miserable  wretch,  and 
made  him  totter  as  he  went  along.  His  attendants  were  ad- 
dressing to  him  some  words  of  consolation  connected  with  reli- 
gion (for  these  people  are,  with  all  their  crimes,  not  destitute 
of  religious  impressions),  but  the  old  man  only  answered  them 
with  his  moans.  He  said  nothing  articulate,  but  during  all 
the  way  to  the  obscure  cellar  into  which  they  led  him,  contin- 
ued moaning  as  he  went.  It  was  not,  I  trust,  a  mere  Iqve  of 
excitement,  which  arises  from  the  contemplation  of  scenes  in 
which  the  passions  are  brought  out,  that  made  me  watch  this 
scene  of  human  misery.  I  may  say,  without  affectation,  that 
I  was  (as  who  would  not  have  been  ?)  profoundly  moved  by 
what  I  saw;  and  when  I  beheld  this  forlorn  and  desolate  man 
descend  into  his  wretched  abode,  which  was  lighted  by  a  fee- 
ble candle,  and  saw  him  fall  upon  his  knees  in  helplessness, 
while  his  attendants  gave  way  to  sorrow,  I  could  not  restrain 
my  own  tears. 

The  scenes  of  misery  did  not  stop  here.  Old  John  Russel 
pleaded  guilty.  He  had  two  sons,  lads  of  fifteen  or  sixteen, 
and,  in  the  hope  of  saving  them,  acknowledged  his  crime  at 
the  bar.  "  Let  them,"  he  said,  in  the  jail  where  I  saw  him — 
"  let  them  put  me  on  the  trap  if  they  like,  but  let  them  spare 
the  boys." 


ORIGIN    OF    IRISH    CRIME. 


^ 


But  I  shall  not  proceed  further  in  the  detail  of  these  dread- 
ful incidents.  There  were  many  other  trials  at  the  assizes,  in 
which  terrible  disclosures  of  barbarity  took  place.  For  three 
weeks  the  two  Judges  were  unremittingly  employed  in  trying 
cases  of  dreadful  atrocity,  and  in  almost  every  instance  the  per- 
petrators of  crimes  the  most  detestable  were  persons  whose  gen- 
eral moral  conduct  stood  in  a  wonderful  contrast  with  their 
isolated  acts  of  depravity.  Almost  every  offence  was  con- 
nected with  the  great  agrarian  organization  which  prevails 
through  the  country. 

It  must  be  acknowledged  that,  terrible  as  the  misdeeds  of 
the  Tipperary  peasantry  must  upon  all  hands  be  admitted  to 
be,  yet,  in  general,  there  was  none  of  the  meanness  and  turpi- 
tude observable  in  their  enormities  which  characterize  the 
crimes  that  are  disclosed  at  an  English  assize.  There  were 
scarcely  any  examples  of  murder  committed  for  mere  gain.  It 
seemed  to  be  a  point  of  honor  with  the  malefactors  to  take 
blood,  and  to  spurn  at  money.  Almost  every  ofiPence  was  com- 
mitted in  carrying  a  system  into  effect,  and  the  victims  who 
were  sacrificed  were  considered  by  their  immolators  as  offered 
np  upon  a  justifiable  principle  of  necessary  extermination. 
These  are  assuredly  important  facts,  and,  after  having  contem- 
plated these  moral  phenomena,  it  becomes  a  duty  to  inquire 
into  the  causes  from  which  these  marvellous  atrocities  derive 
their  origin. 

But  before  I  proceed  to  suggest  what  I  conceive  to  be  the 
sources  of  a  condition  so  disastrous,  it  is  not  inappropriate  to 
inquire  how  long  the  lower  orders  in  Ireland  have  been  habit- 
uated to  these  terrible  practices,  and  to  look  back  to  the  period 
at  which  they  may  be  considered  to  have  had  their  origin.  If 
these  crimes  were  of  a  novel  character,  and  had  a  recent  exist- 
ence, that  circumstance  would  afford  strong  grounds  for  con- 
cluding that  temporary  expedients,  and  the  vigorous  adminis- 
tration of  the  laAv  applied  to  the  suppression  of  local  and  ephe- 
meral disturbances,  would  be  of  avail.  But  if  we  find  that 
it  is  not  now,  or  within  these  few  years,  that  these  symptoms 
of  demoralization  have  appeared,  it  is  then  reasonable  to  con- 
clude that  there  must  be  some  essential  vice,  some  radical  im- 


QQ  CLONMEL   ASSIZES. 

perfection  in  the  general  system  by  wliicli  the  country  is  gov- 
erned, and  it  is  necessary  to  ascertain  what  the  extent  and 
root  of  the  evil  is,  before  any  effectual  remedy  can  be  discov- 
ered for  its  cure. 

This  is  a  subject  of  paramount  interest,  and  its  importance 
will  justify  the  writer  of  this  article,  after  a  detail  of  the  ex- 
traordinary incidents  which  he  has  narrated,  in  taking  a  rapid 
retrospect  of  antecedent  events,  of  which  recent  transactions 
may  be  reasonably  accounted  the  perpetuation.  In  doing  so, 
some  coincidence  may  be  found  with  what  the  writer  may  have 
observed  elsewhere,  but  the  fear  of  incurring  the  imputation 
of  either  tediousness  or  self-citation  shall  not  deter  him  from 
references  to  what  he  conceives  to  be  of  great  and  momentous 
materiality. 

The  first  and  leading  feature  in  the  disturbances  and  atroci- 
ties of  Tipperary  is,  that  they  are  of  an  old  date,  and  have 
been  for  much  more  than  half  a  century  of  uninterrupted  con- 
tinuance. Arthur  Young*  travelled  in  Ireland  in  the  years 
1776, 1777,  and  1778.  His  excellent  book  is  entitled  "A  Tour 
in  Ireland,  with  General  Observations  on  the  Present  State  of 
that  Kingdom."  Although  the  professed  object  of  Arthur 
Young  in  visiting  Ireland  was  to  ascertain  the  condition  of  its 
agriculture,  and  a  great  portion  of  his  work  turns  upon  that 
subject,  yet  he  has  also  investigated  its  political  condition,  and 
pointed  out  what  he  conceived  to  be  the  chief  evils  by  which 
the  country  Avas  afflicted,  and  the  mode  of  removing  them.  He 
adverts  particularly  to  the  state  of  the  peasantry  in  the  south 

*  Arthur  Young  was  one  of  the  very  few  men  who  studied  Agriculture,  as 
a  science,  in  the  eighteenth  centuiy.  That  he  might  master  it,  he  traversed  the 
British  islands,  and  extended  his  observations  over  France,  Italy,  and  Spain. 
He  was  a  great  experimentalist.  He  published  the  Fanner's  Calendar  and  the 
Annals  of  Agriculture,  both  of  which  were  very  popular,  and  among  his  con- 
tributors was  George  III.,  who  aspired  to  be  considered  a  country  gentleman, 
by  virtue  of  having  a  farm  of  his  own,  at  Windsor.  When  Sir  John  Sinclair 
got  the  Government  to  establish  the  Board  of  Agriculture,  he  obtained  the  sec- 
retaryship for  Mr.  Young,  who  retained  it  until  his  death,  in  1820.  His  Agri- 
cultural tours  in  England,  Ireland,  and  France,  were  full  of  information,  care- 
fully collected  and  impartially  conmiunicated.  His  statements  respecting  the 
fallen  condition  of  Ireland,  and  the  causes  of  her  decadence,  were  startling— 
because,  from  the  writer's  character,  their  truth  was  undoubted. —  M. 


WHITEBOYISM.  fS$ 

of  Ireland,  and  it  is  well  wortliy  of  remark  that  the  outrages 
which  are  now  in  daily  commission  were  of  exactly  the  same 
character  as  the  atrocities  which  were  perpetrated  by  the  White- 
boys  (as  the  insurgents  were  called)  in  1760. 

"  The  Whiteboys,"  says  Arthur  Young,  in  page  75  of  the 
quarto  edition,  '*  began  in  Tipperary.  It  was  a  common  prac- 
tice with  them  to  go  in  parties  about  the  country,  swearing 
many  to  be  true  to  them,  and  forcing  them  to  join  by  menaces, 
which  they  very  often  carried  into  execution.  At  last  they 
set  up  to  be  general  redressers  of  grievances — punished  all 
obnoxious  persons  who  advanced  the  value  of  lands,  or  held 
farms  over  their  head ;  and,  having  taken  the  administration 
of  justice  into  their  own  hands,  were  not  very  exact  in  the 
distribution  of  it.  They  forced  masters  to  release  apprentices  ; 
carried  off  the  daughters  of  rich  farmers  —  ravished  them  into 
marriages ;  they  levied  sums  of  money  on  the  middling  and 
lower  farmers,  in  order  to  support  their  cause,  in  defending 
prosecutions  against  them ;  and  many  of  them  subsisted  with- 
out work,  supported  by  these  prosecutions.  Sometimes  they 
committed  considerable  robberies,  breaking  into  houses  an*, 
taking  money  under  pretence  of  redressing  grievances.  In  the 
course  of  these  outrages  they  burnt  several  houses,  and  de- 
stroyed the  whole  substance  of  those  obnoxious  to  them.  The 
barbarities  they  committed  were  shocking.  One  of  their  usual 
punishments,  and  by  no  means  the  most  severe,  was  taking 
people  out  of  their  beds,  carrying  them  naked  in  winter  on  horse- 
back for  some  distance,  and  burying  them  up  to  their  chin  in 
a  hole  with  briers,  not  forgetting  to  cut  off  one  of  their  ears.'* 
Arthur  Young  goes  on  to  say  that  the  Government  had  not  suc- 
ceeded in  discovering  any  radical  cure. 

It  will  scarcely  be  disputed  that  the  Whiteboyism  of  1760 
corresponds  with  that  of  1828 ;  and  if,  when  Arthur  Young 
wrote  his  valuable  book,  the  Government  had  not  discovered 
any  "  radical  cure,"  it  will  scarcely  be  suggested  that  any 
remedy  has  since  that  time  been  devised.  From  the  period  at 
which  these  outrages  commenced,  the  evil  has  continued  in  a 
rapidly-progressive  augmentation.  Every  expedient  which 
legislative  ingenuity  could  invent  has  been  tried.    All  that 


68  CLONIVIEL    ASSIZES. 

the  terrors  of  the  law  could  accomplish  has  heen  put  into  ex- 
periment without  avail.  Special  commissioners  and  special 
delegations  of  counsel  have  been  almost  annually  despatched 
into  the  disturbed  districts,  and  crime  appears  to  have  only 
undergone  a  pruning,  while  its  roots  remained  untouched. 

Mr.  Doherty  is  not  the  first  Solicitor-General  of  great  abili- 
ties who  has  been  despatched  by  Government  for  the  purpose 
of  awing  the  peasantry  into  their  duty.  The  present  Chief- 
Justice  of  the  King's  Bench  [BusheJ,upon  filling  Mr.  Doherty's 
office,  was  sent  upon  the  same  painful  errand,  and,  after  having 
been  equally  successful  in  procuring  the  conviction  of  malefac- 
tors, and  brandished  the  naked  sword  of  justice  with  as  puis- 
sant an  arm,  new  atrocities  have  almost  immediately  afterward 
broken  forth,  and  furnished  new  occasions  for  the  exercise  of 
his  commanding  eloquence. 

It  is  reasonable  to  presume  that  the  recent  executions  at 
Olonmel  will  not  be  attended  with  any  more  permanently  use- 
ful consequences ;  and  symptoms  are  already  beginning  to  re- 
appear, which,  independently  of  the  admonitions  of  experience, 
may  well  induce  an  apprehension  that,  before  much  time  shall 
go  by,  the  law-officers  of  the  Crown  will  have  to  go  through 
the  same  terrible  routine  of  prosecution.  It  is  said,  indeed,  by 
many  sanguine  speculators  on  the  public  peace,  that  now,  indeed, 
something  effectual  has  been  done,  and  that  the  jail  and  the 
gibbet  there  have  given  a  lesson  that  will  not  be  speedily  for- 
gotten. How  often  has  the  same  thing  been  said  when  the 
scaffold  was  strewed  with  the  same  heaps  of  the  dead  !  How 
often  have  the  prophets  of  tranquillity  been  falsified  by  the 
event !  If  the  crimes  which,  ever  since  the  year  1760,  have 
.iHJen  uninterruptedly  committed,  and  have  followed  in  such  a 
jiaipid  and  tumultuous  succession,  had  been  of  only  occasional 
occurrence,  it  would  be  reasonable  to  conclude  that  the  terrors 
of  the  law  could  repress  them. 

But  it  is  manifest  that  the  system  of  atrocity  doos  not  depend 
upon  causes  merely  ephemeral,  and  can  not  therefore  be  under 
the  operation  of  temporary  checks.  We  have  not  merely  wit- 
nessed sudden  inundations  which,  after  a  rapid  desolation,  have 
suddenly  subsided  :  we  behold  a  stream  as  deep  as  it  is  dark. 


OPERATION  OF  THE  PENAL  CODE.  69 

which  indicates,  by  its  continuous  current,  that  it  is  derived 
from  an  unfailing  fountain,  and  which,  however  augmented  by 
the  contribution  of  other  springs  of  bitterness,  must  be  indebted 
for  its  main  supply  to  some  abundant  and  distant  source. 
Where,  then,  is  the  well-head  to  be  found  1  Where  are  we 
to  seek  for  the  origin  of  evils,  which  are  of  such  a  character 
that  they  carry  with  them  the  clearest  evidence  that  their 
causes  must  be  as  enduring  as  themselves?  It  may  at  first 
view,  and  to  any  man  who  is  not  well  acquainted  with  the 
moral  feelings  and  habits  of  the  great  body  of  the  population 
of  Ireland,  seem  a  paradoxical  proposition  that  the  laws  which 
affect  the  Homan  Catholics  furnish  a  clew  by  which,  however 
complicated  the  mazes  may  be  which  constitute  the  labyrinth 
of  calamity,  it  will  not  be  difficult  to  trace  our  way. 

It  may  be  asked,  with  a  great  appearance  of  plausibility 
(and  indeed  it  is  often  inquired),  what  possible  effect  the  ex- 
clusion of  a  few  Roman  Catholic  gentlemen  from  Parliament, 
and  of  still  fewer  E-oman  Catholic  barristers  from  the  bench, 
can  produce  in  deteriorating  the  moral  habits  of  the  people  1 
This,  however,  is  not  the  true  view  of  the  matter.  The  exclu- 
sion of  Roman  Catholics  from  office  is  one  of  the  results  of 
the  penal  code,  but  it  is  a  sophism  to  suggest  that  it  is  the  sum 
total  of  the  law  itself,  and  that  tire  whole  of  it  might  be  re- 
solved into  that  single  proposition.  The  just  mode  of  present- 
ing the  question  would  be  this  :  "  What  effect  does  the  penal 
code  produce  by  separating  the  higher  and  the  lower  orders 
from  each  other?" 

Before  I  suggest  any  reasons  of  my  own,  it  may  be  judicious 
to  refer  to  the  same  writer,  from  whom  I  have  extracted  a  de- 
scription of  the  state  of  the  peasantry,  with  which  its  prestent 
condition  singularly  corresponds.  The  authority  of  Arthur 
Young  is  of  great  value,  because  his  opinions  were  not  in  the 
least  degree  influenced  by  those  passions  which  are  almost  in- 
separable from  every  native  of  Ireland.  He  was  an  English- 
man— had  no  share  in  the  factious  animosities  by  which  this 
country  is  divided — he  had  a  cool,  deliberate,  and  scientific 
mind  —  was  a  sober  thinker,  and  a  deep  scrutinizer  into  the 
frame  and  constitution  of  society,  and  was  entirely  free  from 


70  CLONMEL    ASSIZKS. 

all  tendency  to  extravagance  in  speculation,  eitlier  political  or 
religious.  Arthur  Young's  book  consists  of  two  parts.  In  tlie 
first  lie  gives  a  minute  account  of  what  lie  saw  in  Ireland,  and 
in  the  second,  under  a  series  of  chapters,  one  of  which  is  ap- 
propriately entitled  "  Oppression,"  he  states  what  he  conceives 
to  be  the  causes  of  the  lamentable  condition  of  the  people. 
Having  prefixed  this  title  of  "  oppression"  to  the  29tli  page  of 
the  second  part  of  his  book,  he  says  :  "  The  landlord  of  an 
Irish  estate  inhabited  by  Roman  Catholics,  is  a  sort  of  despot, 
who  yields  obedience  in  whatever  concerns  the  poor  to  no  law 
but  his  own  will.  To  discover  what  the  liberty  of  a  people  is, 
we  must  live  among  them,  and  not  look  for  it  in  the  statutes  of 
the  realm  :  the  language  of  written  law  may  be  that  of  liberty, 
but  the  situation  of  the  poor  may  speak  no  language  but  that 
of  slavery.  There  is  too  much  of  this  contradiction  in  Ireland  ; 
a  long  series  of  oppression,  aided  by  many  very  ill-judged  laws, 
has  brought  landlords  into  a  habit  of  exerting  a  very  lofty  su- 
periority, and  their  vassals  into  that  of  a  most  unlimited  sub- 
mission :  speaking  a  language  that  is  despised,  professing  a 
religion  that  is  abhorred,  and  being  disarmed,  the  poor  find 
themselves,  in  many  cases,  slaves,  even  in  the  bosom  of  written 
liberty  !  .  .  .  The  abominable  distinction  of  religion,  united  AA'ith 
the  oppressive  conduct  of  the  little  country-gentlemen,  or  rather 
vermin  of  the  kingdom,  who  were  never  out  of  it,  altogether 
bear  still  very  heavy  on  the  poor  people,  and  subject  them  to 
situations  more  mortifying  than  we  ever  behold  in  England." 

In  the  next  page  after  these  preliminary  observations,  this 
able  writer  (who  said  in  vain  fifty  years  ago  what  since  that 
time  so  many  eminent  men  have  been  in  vain  repeating) 
points  out  more  immediately  the  causes  of  the  crimes  commit- 
ted by  the  peasantry,  which  he  distinctly  refers  to  the  distinc- 
tions of  religion.  "The  proper  distinction  in  all  the  discon- 
tents of  the  people  is  into  Protestant  and  Catholic.  The  White- 
boys,  being  laboring  Catholics,  met  with  all  those  oppressions 
I  have  described,  and  would  probably  have  continued  in  full 
submission,  had  not  very  severe  treatment  blown  up  the  flame 
of  resistance.  The  atrocious  acts  they  were  guilty  of  made 
them  the  objects  of  general  indignation  :  acts  were  passed  for 


JUSTICE   TO    lEELAND.  71 

their  punislmient,  whicli  seemed  Ctalculated  for  tlie  meridian  of 
Barbary.  It  is  manifest  that  the  gentlemen  of  Ireland  never 
thought  of  a  radical  cure,  from  overlooking  the  real  cause  of  the 
disease,  which,  in  fact,  lay  in  themselves,  and  not  in  the  wretches 
they  doomed  to  the  gallows.  Let  them  change  their  own 
conduct  entirely,  and  the  poor  will  not  long  riot.  Treat  them 
like  men,  who  ought  to  be  free  as  yourselves ;  put  an  end  to 
that  system  of  religious  persecution  which  for  seventy  years 
has  divided  the  kingdom  against  itself.  In  these  two  things 
lies  the  cure  of  insurrection  —  perform  them  completely,  and 
you  will  have  an  affectionate  poor,  instead  of  oppressed  and 
discontented  vassals  ;  a  better  treatment  of  the  poor  in  Ireland 
is  a  very  material  point  to  the  welfare  of  the  whole  British 
empire.  Events  may  happen  which  may  convince  us  fatally 
of  this  truth.  If  not,  oppression  would  have  broken  all  the 
spirit  and  resentment  of  men.  By  what  policy  the  Govern- 
ment of  England  can,  for  so  many  years,  have  permitted  such 
an  absurd  system  to  be  matured  in  Ireland,  is  beyond  the 
power  of  plain  sense  to  discover." 

Arthur  Young  may  be  wrong  in  his  inference  {I  do  not  think 
that  he  is) ;  but,  be  he  right  or  Avrong,  I  have  succeeded  in 
establishing  that  he,  whose  evidence  was  most  dispassionate 
and  impartial,  referred  the  agrarian  barbarities  of  the  lower 
orders  to  the  oppression  of  the  Homan  Catholics.  But  the  pas- 
sage which  I  have  cited  is  not  the  strongest.  The  seventh 
section  of  his  work  is  entitled  "  Religion."  After  saying  that 
"  the  domineering  aristocracy  of  five  hundred  thousand  Protest- 
ants feel  the  sweets  of  having  two  millions  of  slaves"  (the  Ro- 
man Catholic  body  was  then  not  one  tliird  of  what  the  penal 
code  has  since  made  it),  he  observes  :  "  The  disturbances  of 
the  Whiteboys,  which  lasted  ten  years"  (what  would  he  now 
say  of  their  duration?),  "in  spite  of  every  exertion  of  legal 
power,  were,  in  many  circumstances,  very  remarkable,  and  in 
none  more  so  than  in  the  surprising  intelligence  among  tlie  in- 
surgents, wherever  found.  It  was  universal,  and  almost  in- 
stantaneous. The  numerous  bodies  of  them,  at  whatever  dis- 
tance from  each  other,  seemed  animated  By  one  zeal,  and  not 
a  single  instance  was  known,  in  that  long!course  of  time,  of  a 


T2  CLONMEL    ASSIZES. 

single  individual  betraying  the  cause.  The  severest  threats 
and  the  most  splendid  promises  of  reward  had  no  other  effect 
than  to  draw  closer  the  bonds  which  cemented  a  multitude  to 
all  appearance  so  desultory.  It  was  then  evident  that  the  iron 
hand  of  oppression  had  been  far  enough  from  securing  the  obe- 
dience or  crushing  the  spirit  of  the  people ;  and  all  reflecting 
men,  who  consider  the  value  of  religious  liberty,  will  wish  it 
may  never  have  that  effect  —  will  trust  in  the  wisdom  of  Al- 
mighty God,  for  teaching  man  to  respect  even  those  prejudices 
of  his  brethren  that  are  imbibed  as  sacred  rights,  even  from 
earliest  infancy  ;  that,  by  dear-bought  experience  of  the  futility 
and  ruin  of  the  attempt,  the  persecuting  spirit  may  cease,  and 
toleration  establish  that  harmony  and  security  which,  five- 
score years'  experience  has  told  us,  is  not  to  be  purchased  at 
the  expense  of  humanity." 

This  is  strong  language,  and  was  used  by  a  man  who  had 
no  connecting  sympathy  of  interest,  of  religion,  or  of  national- 
ity, with  Ireland.  So  unequivocal  an  opinion,  expressed  by  a 
person  of  such  authority,  and  whose  credit  is  not  affected  by 
any  imaginable  circumstance,  must  be  admitted  to  have  great 
weight,  even  if  there  was  a  difficulty  in  perceiving  the  grounds 
on  which  that  opinion  rested.  But  there  is  little  or  none.  The 
law  divides  the  Protestant  proprietor  from  tlie  Catholic  tiller 
of  the  soil,  and  generates  a  feeling  of  tyrannical  domination 
in  the  one,  and  of  hatred  and  distrust  in  the  other.  The  Irish 
peasant  is  not  divided  from  his  landlord  by  the  ordinary  de- 
markations  of  society.  Another  barrier  is  erected,  and,  as  if 
•the  poor  and  the  rich  were  not  already  sufficiently  separated, 
religion  is  raised  as  an  additional  boundary  between  them. 

The  operation  of  the  feelings,  which  are  the  consequence  of 
this  division,  is  stronger  in  the  county  of  Tipperary  than  else- 
where. It  is  a  peculiarly  Oromwellian  district,  or,  in  other 
words,  the  holy  warriors  of  the  Protector  chose  it  as  their  land 
of  peculiar  promise,  and  selected  it  as  a  favorite  object  of  con- 
fiscation. The  lower  orders  have  good  memories.  There  is 
scarcely  a  peasant  who,  as  he  passes  the  road,  will  not  point  to 
the  splendid  mansions  of  the  aristocracy,  embowered  in  groves, 
or  rising  upon  fertile  elevations,  and  tell  you  the  name  of  the 


PROTESTANT   ASCENDENCY.  73 

pious  corporal  or  tlie  inspired  sergeant  from  whom  the  present 
proprietors  derive  a  title,  which,  even  at  this  day,  appears  to 
he  of  a  modern  origin. 

These  reminiscences  are  of  a  most  injurious  tendency.  But, 
after  all,  it  is  the  system  of  religious  separation  which  nurtures 
the  passions  of  the  peasantry  with  these  pernicious  recollec- 
tions. They  are  not  permitted  to  forget  that  Protestantism  is 
stamped  upon  every  institution  in  the  country,  and  their  own 
sunderance  from  the  privileged  class  is  perpetually  brought  to 
their  minds.  Judges,  sheriffs,  magistrates,  Crown-counsel,  law- 
officers —  all  are  Protestant.*  The  very  sight  of  a  court  of 
justice  reminds  them  of  the  degradations  attached  to  their  re- 
ligion, by  presenting  them  with  the  ocular  proof  of  the  advan- 
tages and  honors  which  belong  to  the  legal  creed.  It  is  not, 
therefore,  wonderful  that  they  should  feel  themselves  a  branded 
caste ;  that  they  should  have  a  consciousness  that  they  belong 
to  a  debased  and  inferior  community ;  and,  having  no  confi- 
dence in  the  upper  classes,  and  no  reliance  in  the  sectarian 
administration  of  the  law,  that  they  should  establish  a  code  of 
barbarous  legislation  among  themselves,  and  have  recourse  to 
what  Lord  Bacon  calls  "  the  wild  justice"  of  revenge.  A 
change  of  system  would  not  perhaps  produce  immediate  ef- 
fects upon  the  character  of  the  people :    but  I  believe  that 

*  Having-  repeatedly  mentioned  "  Protestant  Ascendency,"  in  these  notes,  it 
may  not  be  improper  to  define  what  it  was  and  what  it  meant.  In  an  address 
from  the  Coi-poration  of  Dublin  to  the  Protestants  of  Ireland,  praying  them  to 
resist  Catholic  Emancipation,  the  following  passage  occurs :  "  Protestant  As- 
cendency, which  we  have  resolved  with  our  lives  and  fortunes  to  maintain. 
And  that  no  doubt  may  remain  of  what  we  understand  by  the  words  '  Protestant 
Ascendency,  we  have  further  resolved,  that  we  consider  the  Protestant  Ascen- 
dency to  consist  in  —  a  Protestant  King  of  Ireland  —  a  Protestant  Parliament 
—  a  Protestant  hierarchy  —  Protestant  Electors  and  Government  —  the  benches 
of  justice,  the  army,  and  the  Revenue,  through  all  their  branches  and  details, 
Protestant — and  this  system  supported  by  a  connection  with  the  Protestant 
Realm  of  Britain."  Previous  to  this  assertion  of  exclusive  Protestant  rights, 
the  Lord  Chancellor  of  Ireland  had  declared  from  the  judgment-seat  (in  1759) 
that  "  the  laws  did  not  presume  a  Papist  to  exist  in  the  Kingdom,  nor  could 
they  breathe  without  the  connivance  of  government."  Yet  the  Catholics,  whoso 
rights  and  very  existence  were  legally  ignored,  were  about  seven  times  more 
numerous  than  the  Protestants  of  Ireland. —  M. 

Vol.  II.— 4 


74  CLONMEL    ASSIZES. 

its  results  would  be  mucli  more  speedy  than  is  generally  im- 
agined. 

At  all  events,  tlie  experiment  of  conciliation  is  worth  the 
trial.  Every  other  expedient  has  been  resorted  to,  and  has 
wholly  failed.  It  remains  that  the  legislature,  after  exhaust- 
ing all  other  means  of  tranquillizing  Ireland,  should,  upon  a 
mere  chance  of  success,  adopt  the  remedy  which  has  at  least 
the  sanction  of  illustrious  names  for  its  recommendation.  The 
union  of  the  two  great  classes  of  the  people  in  Ireland  —  in 
other  words,  the  emancipation  of  the  Homan  Catholics  —  is  in 
this  view  not  only  recommended  by  motives  of  policy,  but  of 
humanity  ;  for  who  that  has  witnessed  the  scenes  Avhich  I  have 
(perhaps  at  too  much  length)  detailed  in  these  pages,  can  fail 
to  feel  that,  if  the  demoralization  of  the  people  arises  from  bad 
government,  the  men  who  from  feelings  of  partisanship  perse- 
vere in  that  system  of  misrule,  will  have  to  render  a  terrible 
account  ? 


THE    CATHOLIC    BAR. 

"  And  ye  shall  walk  in  silk  attire." — Old  Ballad. 

Upon  the  first  day  of  last  Michaelmas  term  [1826]  eight 
gentlemen  were  called  to  the  Bar,  of  whom  four  were  lloman 
Catholics.  This  was  a  kind  of  event  in  the  Hall  of  the  Four 
Courts,  and  in  the  lack  of  any  other  matter  of  interest,  such 
as  the  speech  of  a  new  Sergeant  at  a  corporation  dinner,  which 
had  by  this  time  ceased  to  excite  the  comments  of  the  attor- 
neys, produced  a  species  of  excitation.  There  are  two  assort- 
ments of  oaths  for  Catholics  and  Protestants  upon  their  admis- 
sion to  the  Bar.  The  latter  still  enter  their  protestations,  in 
the  face  of  Lord  Manners  and  of  Heaven,  against  the  damna- 
ble idolatry  of  the  Church  of  Rome.  But  when  the  more  miti- 
gated oath  provided  for  the  Jloman  Catholics  happens  to  be 
rehearsed  on  the  first  day  of  term,*  it  is  easy  to  perceive  an 
expression  of  disrelish  in  the  countenance  of  the  court ;  and 
although  it  is  impossible  for  Lord  Manners  to  divest  himself  of 
that  fine  urbanity  which  belongs  to  his  birth  and  rank,  yet  in 
the  bow  with  which  he  receives  the  aspiring  Papist,  there  are 
evident  symptoms  of  constraint ;  and  it  is  by  a  kind  of  effort 
even  in  his  features  that  they  are  wrought  into  an  elaborated 
smile. 

It  does  not  frequently  happen  that  more  than  one  or  two 
Roman  Catholics   are  called  in  any  single  term;   and  when 

*  This  sketch  was  published,  in  Februaiy,  1827,  when  Lord  Manners  was 
Chancellor. —  Roman  Catholics  were  not  admitted  to  the  Irish  bar  until  1798. 
— Among  the  earliest  who  availed  themselves  of  this  privilege,  was  Mi-.  O'Coc- 
nell.— M. 


76  THK    CATflOLIC    BAK. 

Lord  Manners  heard  four  several  shocks  given  to  the  Consti- 
tution, and  the  Roman  Catholic  qualification-oath  coming  again 
and  again  upon  him,  it  is  not  wonderful  that  his  composure 
should  have  been  disturbed,  and  that  the  loyal  part  of  the  Bar 
should  have  caught  the  expression  of  dismay.  Mr.  Sergeant 
Lefroy,  alarmed  at  the  repeated  omissions  of  those  pious  de- 
nunciations of  the  Virgin  Mary,  by  which  the  laws  and  lib- 
erty of  these  countries  are  sustained,  in  the  very  act  of  putting 
a  fee  into  his  pocket,  lifted  up  the  whites  of  his  eyes  to 
Heaven  :  Mr.  Devonshire  Jackson  let  fall  his  mask,  and  deter- 
mined on  voting  for  Gerard  Callaghan  :*  the  Solicitor-General 
was  observed  to  whisper  Mr.  Saurin,  until  the  arrival  of  Mr. 
Plunket  withdrew  him  from  the  ear  of  his  former  associate  in 
office :  to  Mr.  Saurin  it  Avas  proposed  by  Barclay  Scriven  to 
petition  Mr.  Peel  to  appoint  him  Attorney-General  in  the 
island  of  Barbadoes;  and  it  is  rumored  that  another  letter  to 
my  Lord  Norbury  has  been  discovered,!  in  which  the  writer 
protests  his  belief,  that  the  Bar  will  soon  be  reduced  to  its 
condition  in  the  reign  of  James  the  Second. 

In  the  reign  of  James  the  Second,  Roman  Catholic  barristers 
were  raised  to  office;  and,  as  the  time  appears  to  be  at  hand 
when  they  will  be  rendered  eligible  by  law  to  hold  peaces  of 
distinction  and  of  trust,  it  is  worth  our  while  to  examine  in 
what  way  they  conducted  themselves  when,  in  the  short  inter- 
val of  their  political  prosperity,  Roman  Catholics  were  in- 
vested with  authority.  Doctor  King  says,  that  "  no  sooner 
had  the  Papists  got  judges  and  juries  that  would  believe 
them,  but  they  began  a  trade  of  swearing  and  ripping  up 
what  they  pretended  their  Protestant  neighbors  had  said  of 
King  James,  whilst  Duke  of  York ;"  and  proceeds  to  charge 
them  Vi^ith  gross  corruption  in  the  administration  of  justice. 

*  Mr.  Devonshire  Jackson,  a  clever  lawyer,  very  attenuated  in  person  and 
intolerant  in  political  polemics,  is  now^  one  of  the  Judges  of  the  Common  Pleas 
in  Ireland. —  Mr.  Gerard  Callaghan,  son  of  Daniel  Callaghan,  a  rich  victualler 
and  contractor  in  Cork,  was  ineligible,  as  a  Catholic,  to  sit  in  Pailiament,  ao 
he  changed  his  religion,  and  was  elected  for  his  native  city.  After  Emancipa- 
tion his  brother  Daniel  was  elected,  without  relinquishing  his  religious  faith. —  M. 

t  See  the  preceding  sketch  of  Lord  Noibuiy,  in  this  volume. —  M. 


ARCHBISHOP    KING.  7T 

The  Doctor  Avas  Arclibisbop  of  Dublin.  He  had  originally 
been  a  sizar  in  the  University;  and  having  afterward  obtained 
a  fellowship,  gradually  raised  himself,  by  dint  of  sycophancy 
and  intrigue,  to  one  of  the  richest  sees  in  the  richest  establish- 
ment in  the  world.*  Whether  he  exhibited  all  the  arrogance 
of  a  Pontifical  parvenu ;  whether  he  was  at  once  a  haughty 
priest  and  a  consecrated  jackanapes;  whether  he  was  a  sophist 
in  his  creed,  an  equivocator  in  his  statements,  and  a  cobweb- 
weaver  in  his  theology ;  whether  he  had  a  vain  head,  a  nig- 
gard hand,  and  a  false  and  servile  heart,  and  betrayed  the 
men  who  raised  him,  I  have  not  been  able  to  determine.  He 
appears  to  have  been  an  apostate  in  his  politics.t  His  represen- 
tation of  the  conduct  of  the  Catholic  judges  in  his  time  is  not 
without  some  episcopal  characteristics,  and  justifies  what  Leslie 
says  of  him  : — "  Though  many  things  the  archbishop  says  are 
true,  yet  he  has  hardly  spoken  a  true  word  without  a  warp." 
The  best  and  most  incontrovertible  evidence  (that  of  Lord 
Clarendon,  the  Lord-Lieutenant,  and  a  firm  Protestant),  could 
be  adduced  to  show  how  widely  the  statements  of  Doctor  King 
vary  from  the  fact. 

Lord  Clarendon  tells  us  that  **  when  the  Popish  judges  went 
to  the  assizes  in  the  counties  of  Down  and  Londonderry,  where 
many  considerable  persons  were  to  be  tried  for  words  formerly 
spoken  against  King  James,  they  took  as  much  pains  as  it 

*  Dr.  William  King,  bom  in  1650,  was  an  Irishman  educated  at  Trinity  Col- 
lege, and  for  many  years  Archbishop  of  Dublin.  It  is  worth  mention,  as  show- 
ing how  church  patronage  went  in  those  days,  and  (it  may  be)  how  little  they 
deserved  promotion,  that  though,  from  1609  to  1773,  there  were  one  hundred 
and  eight  appointments  or  translations  to  Irish  sees,  only  twenty-three  fellows 
of  Trinity  College  (the  only  University  in  Ireland),  were  among  the  prize-hold- 
ers. One  of  these  was  the  illustrious  James  Usher,  appointed  Bishop  of  Meath 
in  1620  (a  see  now  having  Dr.  Singer  at  its  head),  and  Archbishop  of  Armagh 
in  1624.  A  celebrated  wit,  by  the  way,  used  to  say  that  "  Bishops,"  who  are 
always  removed  merely  to  richer  dioceses,  "  are  the  only  things  that  do  not 
suffer  by  translation.'''' — Archbishop  King  died  in  1729. —  M. 

t  Of  these  last  sentences  it  might  be  said,  addressing  Di*.  Magee,  Archbishop 
of  Dublin  when  they  were  written  — 

.  r.;C;  "  Mutato  nomine,  de  tEKfai?ul4,narratur." 

Mr.  Sheil  appears  to  have  a  rooted  antipadiy  to  this  divine,  who  was  a  liberal 
in  his  youth,  but  became  intolerant  in  his  later  years. — M. 


78  TlII^    CATHOLIC    BAR. 

was  possible  to  quiet  tlie  miiuls  of  tlie  people  wlierever  tliey 
went;  and  they  took  care  to  liave  all  the  juries  mingled,  half 
English  and  lialf  Irish."— (State  Letters,  vol.  i.,  p.  326.)  "  Judge 
Daly,"  he  says,  *'  one  of  the  Popish  judges,  did,  at  tlie  assizes 
of  the  county  of  Meath,  enlarge  much  upon  the  miconsciona- 
bleness  of  indicting  men  for  words  spoken  so  many  years  be- 
fore;  and  thereupon  the  jurors,  the  major  part  of  Avhom  were 
Irish,  acquitted  them  :"  and  he  adds,  that  "  Mr.  Justice  Nu- 
gent, another  Popish  judge,  made  the  same  declaration  at 
Drogheda,  where  several  persons  were  tried  for  words."  Lord 
Clarendon  further  states,  that  he  was  in  the  habit  of  consult- 
ing Roman  Catholics,  who  had  been  recently  promoted,  re- 
specting the  appointment  of  mayors,  sheriffs,  and  common- 
council  men.  "  I  advise,"  he  says,  "  with  those  who  are  best 
acquainted  in  these  towns,  particularly  with  Justice  Daly, 
and  others  of  the  King's  council  of  that  persuasion  ;  and  the 
lists  of  names  these  men  give  me,  are  always  equal,  half  Eng- 
glish,  half  Irish,  which,  they  say,  is  the  best  way  to  make 
them  unite  and  live  friendly  together." — (State  Letters,  vol. 
ii.,  p.  319.) 

In  the  first  volume  of  the  State  Letters,  p.  292,  he  says, 
"  At  the  council-board,  there  v/as  a  complaint  proved  against 
a  justice  of  the  peace ;  and  it  is  remarkable  that  several  of 
our  new  Roman  Catholic  counsellors,  though  the  justice  was 
an  Englishman  and  a  Protestant,  were  for  putting  off  the  busi- 
ness ;  and  particularly  the  three  said  Popish  judges  said,  the 
gentleman  would  be  more  careful  for  the  future."  He  adds, 
that  "  when  the  Popish  judges  were  made  privy-counsellors, 
they  conducted  themselves  with  singular  modesty," — a  prece- 
dent which  I  have  no  doubt  that  Mr.  Blake  will  follow,  when 
lie  shall  be  elevated  to  the  vice-regal  cabinet.* 

*  Many  a  chance  arrow  hits  the  white ;  many  a  tme  word  is  spoker  in  jest; 
Mr.  Sheil  was  an  involuntary  prophet.  Anthony  Richard  Blake,  wno  was 
Lord  Wellesley's  particular  friend,  was  one  of  the  carHest  Catholic  Privy  Coun- 
cillors in  Ireland,  after  Emancipation.  Boi-n  in  1786,  he  was  called  to  the  bar 
in  1813 ;  was  Chief-Remembrancer  of  Ireland  from  1823  to  1842,  when  he 
resigned  from  ill-health ;  in  1844,  was  made  a  commissioner  of  charitable  do- 
nations and  bequests  for  Ireland;  and  died,  in  January,  1849,  aged  sixty- 
three. —  M= 


SIR    THEOBALD    BUTLER.  79 

Of  the  Roman  Oatliolics,  wlio  were  promoteil  in  tlie  reign  of 
James  the  Second,  Sir  Theobald  Butler  was  by  far  the  most 
distinguished.  He  Avas  created  Attorney-General,  and  dis- 
charged the  duties  of  his  office  with  perfect  fairness  and  im- 
partiality. This  very  able,  and,  as  far  as  renown  can  be  ob- 
tained in  Ireland,  this  celebrated  man  was  not  only  without 
an  equal,  but  without  a  competitor  in  his  profession.  Although 
the  reputation  of  a  lawyer  is  almost  of  necessity  evanescent, 
yet  such  was  the  impression  produced  by  his  extraordinary 
abilities,  that  his  name  is  to  this  day  familiarly  referred  to. 
This  permanence  in  the  national  recollection  is  in  a  great 
measure  to  be  attributed  to  the  very  important  part  which  he 
took  in  politics,  and  especially  in  the  negotiation  of  the  treaty 
of  Limerick.  His  high  rank  also,  for  he  was  a  member  of  the 
great  house  of  Ormond,  added  to  his  influence. 

As  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  form  an  estimate  of  his  intellectual 
qualities,  from  the  speech  which  he  delivered  at  the  bar  of  the 
Irish  House  of  Commons,  he  was  more  remarkable  for  strength, 
brevity,  condensation,  and  great  powers  of  argument,  than  for 
any  extraordinary  faculty  of  elocution.  The  speech  to  which 
I  have  adverted,  has  none  of  those  embellishments  of  rhetoric, 
and  those  splendid  vices  in  oratory,  to  Avhich  the  school  of 
Irish  eloquence  became  subsequently  addicted.*  The  whole 
of  this  oration  is  cast  in  a  syllogistic  mould,  and  exhibits  too 
much  logical  apparatus.  It  was,  I  believe,  the  fashion  of  the 
time  :  still  the  vehemence  of  passion  breaks  through  the  arti- 
ficial regularity  of  reasoning,  and  Avhile  he  is  proceeding  with 
a  series  of  propositions,  systematically  divided,  the  indignant 
emotions,  which  the  injuries  of  his  country  could  not  fail  to 
produce,  burst  repeatedly  and  abundantly  out :  in  the  midst 
of  all  the  pedantic  forms  of  scholastic  disputation.  Nature  as- 
serts her  dominion;  he  gives  a  loose  to  anguish,  and  pours 
forth  his  heart. 

Sir  Theobald  Butler  had  not  only  been  among  the  besieged 
Catholics  at  Limerick,  but  was  employed  by  his  countrymen 

-  *  And  of  whicli  Mr.  Shell's  o\vn  oi'atory  was  a  brilliant  example  ;  —  so  easy 
is  it  to  perceive  faults,  and  yet  possess  them  —  to  approve  of  the  "  meliora,"  aJid 
yet  have  to  add  "  sed  inferiora  sequor." — M. 


so  Tiin:  CATHOLIC  bar. 

to  settle  the  articles  of  capitulation.*  His  name  appears  on 
the  face  of  the  treaty  as  one  of  the  parties  with  Avhom,  on 
behalf  of  the  Irish,  it  was  concluded.  When  in  tlie  year  1703, 
only  twelve  years  after  the  articles  had  been  signed,  a  bill 
(the  first  link  of  the  penal  code)  was  introduced  into  parlia- 
ment, the  effect  of  which  was  utterly  to  abrogate  those  articles, 
the  eyes  of  the  Avhole  nation  were  turned  upon  the  man  who 
had  been  instrumental  in  effecting  that  great  national  arrange- 
ment. Independently  of  his  great  abilities  as  an  advocate,  he 
presented,  in  his  own  person,  a  more  immediate  and  distinct 
perception  of  that  injustice  which  was  about  to  be  exercised 
against  the  body,  of  which  he  was  the  ornament,  and  to  which 
his  eloquence  now  afforded  their  only  refuge. 

In  a  book  entitled  "An  Account  of  the  Debates  on  the 
Popery  Laws,"  it  is  stated  that  the  Papists  of  Ireland,  obser- 
ving that  the  House  of  Commons  was  preparing  the  heads  of  a 
bill  to  be  transmitted  to  England  to  be  drawn  into  an  act  to 
jjrevent  the  growth  of  Popery,  and  having  in  vain  endeavored 
to  put  a  stop  to  it  there,  at  its  remittance  back  to  Ireland 
presented  to  the  House  of  Commons  a  petition  praying  to  be 
heard  by  their  counsel  against  the  bill,  and  to  have  a  copy  of 
the  bill,  and  to  have  a  reasonable  time  to  speak  to  it  before  it 
passed,  when  it  was  ordered  that  they  should  be  heard. 

Upon  Tuesday  the  22d  of  February,  1703,  Sir  Theobald 
Butler  appeared  at  the  bar,  and  with  the  treaty  of  Limerick 

*  The  defender  of  Limerick,  when  besieged  by  the  army  of  William  III.,  at 
the  Revolution,  was  "  the  gallant  Sarsfield"  —  so  designated  in  the  histories  of 
the  time.  He  was  created  Earl  of  Lucan,  by  James  XL,  but  the  title  was  not 
legally  recognised,  for  himself  or  his  descendants,  in  Great  Britain  or  Ireland. 
Limerick  was  sun-endered  to  William,  even  while  the  L'ish  were  within  a  few 
hours  of  assistance  from  France,  upon  conditions,  which,  if  carried  out  by  the 
English,  would  have  secured  equal  civil  rights  and  liberties  to  all  of  the  Irish  peo- 
ple, and  bound  Ireland  to  Great  Britain  by  a  stronger  tie —  that  of  justice  ren- 
dered—  than  that  of"  allegiance."  The  treaty  of  Limerick,  which  terminated 
the  Dutchman's  contest  for  a  throne,  was  basely  violated  by  England,  when  pe- 
nal laws  against  Catholics  were  enacted,  instead  of  the  promised  justice.  To 
this  day,  the  very  stone  on  which  thfit  Treaty  was  signed,  is  shown  in  Limerick, 
and  one  of  O'Connell's  most  stirring  speeches,  during  the  "  Monster  Meetings" 
of  1843,  was  made  within  sight  of  this  monument  of  Ireland's  having  trusted  to 
the  honor  of  England  —  and  having  been  deceived. —  M. 


THE    TREATY    OF    LIMERICK.  81 

in  his  hand,  requested,  on  behalf  of  the  Irish  Roman  Catholics, 
to  be  heard.  It  must  liave  been  a  very  remarkable  scene. 
Whether  we  consider  the  assembly  to  which  the  remonstrance 
was  addressed,  or  the  character  and  condition  of  the  body  on 
whose  behalf  it  was  spoken,  Avhose  leading  nobles,  and  they 
were  then  numerous,  stood  beside  their  advocate  at  the  bar  of 
the  House,  we  can  not  but  feel  our  minds  impressed  with  a 
vivid  image  of  a  most  imposing,  and  in  some  particulars  a  very 
moving  spectacle. 

The  first  advocate  of  his  time,  who  was  himself  a  principal 
party  in  the  cause  which  he  came  to  plead,  stood  before  a 
Protestant  House  of  Commons ;  while  below  the  bar  were 
assembled  about  their  counsel  the  heads  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
aristocracy.  The  latter  constituted  a  much  more  extensive 
and  differently-constituted  class  of  men  from  those  by  whom 
they  have  been  succeeded.  They  had  been  born  to  wealth  and 
honor :  they  had  been  induced,  by  a  sentiment  of  chivalrous 
devotion,  to  attach  themselves  to  the  fortunes  of  an  unhappy 
prince.  The  source  of  their  calamities  was  in  a  lofty  senti- 
ment. Almost  all  of  them  had  been  soldiers  ;  scarce  a  man  of 
them  but  had  carried  harness  on  his  back.  They  were  actu- 
ated by  the  high  and  gallant  spirit  which  belongs  to  the  pro- 
fession of  arms.  On  the  banks  of  the  Boyne,  on  the  hill  of 
Aughrim,  and  at  the  gates  of  Limerick,  they  had  given  evi- 
dences of  valor,  which,  although  unavailing,  were  not  the  less 
heroic.  They  had  been  worsted,  indeed;  but  they  had  not 
been  subdued  :  they  had  been  accustomed  to  consider  their 
privileges  as  secured  by  a  great  compact,  and  in  substituting 
the  honor  of  England  for  the  bastions  of  Limerick,  they  looked 
upon  their  liberties  as  protected  by  still  more  impregnable 
muniments. 

It  is  easy  to  imagine  the  dismay,  the  indignation,  and  the 
anguish,  with  which  these  gentlemen  must  have  seen  a  statute 
in  rapid  progress  through  the  legislature,  which  would  not  only 
have  the  effect  of  violating  the  treaty  of  Limerick,  and  reduce 
them  to  a  state  of  utter  servitude,  but,  by  holding  out  the 
estate  of  the  father  as  a  premium  for  the  apostacy  of  the  child, 
would  inculcate  a  revolt  against  the  first  instincts  of  natin*e, 

4* 


82  '      THE    CATIIOLTC    BAE. 

and  the  most  sacred  ordinances  of  God.  Their  advocate,  at 
least,  "saw  the  penal  code  in  this  light.  "  Is  not  this,"  he  ex- 
claimed, "  against  the  laws  of  God  and  man,  against  the  rules 
of  reason  and  justice ;  is  not  this  the  most  effectual  way  in  the 
world  to  make  children  become  undutiful,  and  to  bring  the 
gray  head  of  the  parent  to  the  grave  with  grief  and  tears  1" 
In  speaking  thus,  he  did  no  more  than  give  vent  to  the  feelings 
which,  being  himself  a  father,  he  must  have  deeply  experi- 
enced ;  and  the  heart  of  every  parent  whose  cause  he  was 
pleading,  must  have  been  riven  by  their  utterance. 

If  there  was  something  imposing  in  the  sight  of  so  many  of 
the  old  Catholic  nobility  of  Ireland,  of  so  many  gallant  sol- 
diers, gathered  round  their  counsel  in  a  group  of  venerable 
figures  (for  most  of  those  who  had  fought  in  the  civil  wars  were 
now  old),  the  assembly  to  which  they  were  come  to  offer  their 
remonstrances  must  have  also  presented  a  very  striking  spec- 
tacle. The  Irish  House  of  Commons  represented  a  victarious 
and  triumphant  community.  Pride,  haughtiness,  and  disdain, 
the  arrogance  of  conquest,  the  appetite  of  unsatisfied  revenge, 
the  consciousness  of  masterdom,  and  the  determination  to  em- 
ploy it,  must  have  given  this  fierce  and  despotic  convention  a 
very  marked  character.  Most  of  its  members,  as  well  as  their 
Roman  Catholic  supplicants,  had  been  soldiers ;  and  to  the 
gloom  of  Puritanism,  to  which  they  were  still  prone,  they 
united  a  martial  and  overbearing  sternness,  and  exhibited  the 
flush  of  victory  on  their  haughty  and  commanding  aspect.  To 
this  day,  there  are  some  traces  of  kigubrious  peculiarity  in  the 
descendants  of  the  Cromwellian  settlers  in  Ireland  ;  at  the 
period  of  which  I  speak,  the  children  of  the  pious  adventurers 
must  have  exhibited  still  deeper  gloom  of  visage,  and  a  darker 
severity  df  brow. 

In  addressing  an  assembly  so  constituted,  and  in  surveying 
which  an  ordinary  man  would  have  quailed.  Sir  Theobald 
Butler  had  to  perform  a  high  and  arduous  duty.  How  must 
he  have  felt,  when,  advancing  to  the  bar  of  the  House,  he 
threw  his  eyes  around  him,  and  beheld  before  him  the  lurid 
looks  and  baleful  countenances  of  the  Protestant  conquerors 
of  his  country,  and  saw  beside  him  the  companions  of  his 


SIB  THEOBALD  BUTLEE.  83 

youth,  tlie  associates  of  lils  early  life,  many  of  them  his  own 
kindred,  all  of  them  his  fellow-sufferers,  clinging  to  him  as  to 
their  only  stay,  and  substituting  his  talents  for  the  arms  which 
he  had  persuaded  them  to  lay  down !  The  men  whom  he  had 
seen  working  the  cannon  at  the  Latteries  of  Limerick  stood 
now,  with  no  other  safeguard  but  his  eloquence,  at  the  mercy  of 
those  whom  they  had  fought  in  the  breach  and  encountered  in 
the  field.  An  orator  of  antiquity  mentions  that  he  never  rose 
to  speak  upon  an  important  occasion  without  a  tremor.  When 
the  advocate  of  a  whole  people  rose  in  the  deep  hush  of  expecta- 
tion, and  in  all  that  thrilling  silence  which  awaits  the  first  words 
of  a  great  public  speaker,  how  must  his  heart  have  throbbed  ! 

Sir  Theobald  Butler's  speech  (I  dwell  thus  long  upon  the 
subject,  because  the  event  which  produced  it  has  been  attended 
with  such  important  consequences)  comprehends  almost  every 
reason  which  can  be  pressed  against  the  enactment  of  the 
penal  code,  as  a  violation  of  public  faith.  He  did  not,  how- 
ever, confine  himself  to  mere  reasoning  upon  the  subject,  but 
made  an  attempt  to  touch  the  feelings  of  his  Protestant  audi- 
tors. He  has  drawn  a  strong  and  simple  picture  of  the  domes 
tic  effects  of  the  penal  code  in  the  families  of  Eoman  Catholics. 
by  transferring  the  estate  of  the  father  to  his  renegade  son. 
*'  That  the  law  should  invest  any  man  with  the  power  of 
depriving  his  fellow-subject  of  his  property  Avould  be  a  griev- 
ance. But  my  son  —  my  child  —  the  fruit  of  my  body,  whom 
I  have  nursed  in  my  bosom,  and  loved  more  dearly  than  my 
life  —  to  become  my  plunderer,  to  rob  me  of  my  estate,  to  take 
away  my  bread,  to  cut  my  throat  —  it  is  enough  to  mnke  the 
most  flinty  heart  bleed  to  think  on  it.  For  God's  sake,  gentle- 
men, make  the  case  your  own,"  &;c.* 

This  adjuration  exhibits  no  art  of  phrase,  but  it  has  nature, 
which,  as  was  observed  by  Dryden  of  Otway's  plays,  is,  after 

*  Extracts  from  Sir  Theobald  Butlei-'s  speech  were  given  about  a  year  ago 
in  the  Eioile  newspaper,  which  in  a  series  of  articles  on  Ireland  conti-ibuted  to 
produce  that  calculation  upon  the  feeling  of  the  Roman  Catholic  body  recently 
evinced  in  the  debates  of  the  French  parliament.  [The  extracts  referred  to 
were  supplied  to  V Eioile  by  Mr.  Shril  himself,  with  other  articles  (many  of 
them  from  his  own  pen),  which  were  translated  into  English,  and  published 
by  the  London  press,  as  indicating  French  opinions  on  Irish  subjects. —  M.J 


84  THE   CATHOLIC   BAR. 

all,  the  greatest  beauty.  Those  simple  words,  which  contained 
so  much  truth,  can  not  he  read  without  emotion  ;  hut  how  far 
greater  must  have  been  their  effect  AA'hen  uttered  by  a  parent, 
who  was  lifting  up  his  voice  to  protect  the  sanctuaries  of 
nature  against  violation !  In  what  tone  must  a  father  have 
exclaimed,  "  It  would  be  hard  from  any  man ;  but  from  my 
son,  my  child,  the  fruit  of  my  body,  whom  I  have  nursed  in 
my  bosom  !"  Surely,  in  the  utterance  of  this  appeal  —  not  by 
a  mere  mercenary  artificer  of  passion,  but  by  a  man  whom 
everybody  knew  to  be  speaking  the  truth,  and  whose  trembling 
hands  and  quivering  accents  must  have  borne  attestation  to  his 
emotions — the  sternest  and  most  resolved  of  his  judges  must 
have  relented,  and,  like  the  evil  spirit  at  the  contemplation  of 
all  the  misery  he  was  about  to  inflict  — 

"  For  a  moment  stood 
Divested  of  his  malice." 

And  if  the  hearts  of  the  Protestant  confiscators  were  touched, 
did  not  the  tears  roll  down  the  faces  of  the  unfortunate  Cath- 
olics who  stood  by  —  did  they  not  turn  to  sob  in  the  bosom  of 
their  children,  and,  clasping  them  in  their  arms,  inquire,  in 
the  dumb  eloquence  of  that  parental  embrace,  "  whether  they 
would  ever  strike  the  poniard,  with  which  the  law  was  about 
to  arm  them,  into  their  breasts  1"  Their  advocate  did  not, 
however,  merely  ajDpeal  to  the  sensibilities  of  his  auditors,  but 
swept  his  hand  over  strings  by  which  a  still  deeper  vibration 
must  have  been  produced. 

He  assumed  a  loftier  and  a  bolder  tone.  He  raised  himself 
up  to  the  full  height  of  his  mind,  and,  appealing  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  eternal  truth  and  justice,  denounced  the  vengeance 
of  Heaven  on  those  who  should  be  so  basely  perfidious  as  to 
violate  a  great  and  sacred  compact ;  and  was  sufficiently  cour- 
ageous to  remind  a  Protestant  House  of  Commons  that  the 
treaty  of  Limerick  had  been  signed,  "  when  the  Catholics  had 
swords  in  their  hands."  This  was  a  stirring  sentence,  and 
sent  many  a  heart-thrilling  recollection  into  the  hearts  of  those 
to  whom  it  was  addressed.  The  prince  of  the  conquerors  must 
have  started,  and  the  conquered  must  have  looked  upon  hands  m 


THE    TREATY    OF    LIMEKICK.  85 

which  there  were  swords  no  more.  It  is  recorded  of  an  ancient 
orator,  that  he  exercised  over  the  minds  of  his  lieroes  an  influ- 
ence so  powerful,  that  his  description  of  a  battle  Avas  inter- 
rnpted  by  the  exclamation  of  a  soldier  who  had  been  present 
at  the  engagement,  and  whom  the  spell  of  eloquence  had  car- 
ried back  to  the  field. 

Even  at  this  day,  every  reference  to  the  siege  of  Limerick 
produces  an  extraordinary  excitation  in  Roman  Catholic 
assemblies;  and  if  the  descendants  of  those  whose  rights  were 
secured  by  the  treaty  of  Limerick,  recur  with  indignation  to 
the  incidents  of  that  celebrated  siege,  to  what  a  point  of 
excitation  must  the  gallant  cavaliers,  by  whom  the  advocate  of 
the  Irish  nation  was  surrounded,  have  been  wrought,  when  he, 
who  was  himself  a  party  to  that  great  national  indenture,  with 
that  deep  and  solemn  tone  and  that  lofty  gravity  of  demeanor 
for  w^hich  he  was  remarkable,  recalled  the  events  in  which 
almost  every  man  who  heard  him  bore  a  conspicuous  part.  It 
is  in  the  remembrance  of  such  scenes  that  memory  may  be 
justly  called,  "  The  actor  of  our  passions  o'er  again."  I  do  not 
think  that  I  am  guilty  of  any  exaggeration,  when  I  say  that 
in  appealing  to  the  time  when  the  Homan  Catholics  had  arms 
in  their  hands,  the  advocate  of  their  rights  and  the  representa- 
tive of  their  emotions  must  have  brought  back  many  a  martial 
recollection  to  the  clients  in  whose  front  he  stood,  and  whose 
cause  he  was  so  emphatically  pleading.  The  city,  from  Avhich 
William  at  its  first  siege,  with  an  army  of  thirty  thousand  men, 
had  been  driven  back  —  the  fortress,  which  art  and  nature  had 
conspired  to  make  strong,  and  Avliich  valor  and  constancy 
would  have  rendered  impregnable  —  must  have  risen  before 
them.  All  the  glorious  circumstance  incidental  to  their  formei 
occupation  must  have  returned.  The  shout  of  battle,  the  roar 
of  the  cannon,  the  bloody  foss,  the  assault  and  the  repulse, 
the  devotion  and  abandonment,  w^ith  which  whole  regiments 
rushed  through  the  gates,  and  precipitated  themselves  into 
imaginary  martyrdom  —  Sarsfield  upon  the  battlements,  the 
green  flag  floating  from  the  citadel,  and  the  cry  of  *'  Help  from 
Franc^!"  —  these  must  have  been  among  the  recollections 
which  were  awakened  by  their  advocate,  while  he  appealed  to 


86  THE   CATHOLIC    BAR. 

the  time  "  when  they  had  arms  in  their  hands,"  and  stood  in 
the  fire  of  their  batteries,  and  not  at  the  threshold  of  the 
House  of  Commons. 

But,  if  the  sentiment  of  martial  pride  was  rekindled  for 
an  instant,  how  quickly  it  must  have  gone  out,  and  how  soon 
those  emotions  must  have  collapsed  into  despair.  They  must 
have  known,  for  the  countenances  of  their  victors  must  have 
apprized  them,  that  they  had  nothing  to  expect  but  servi- 
tude and  all  the  shame  that  follows  it;  and  then,  indeed, 
they  must  have  mourned  over  the  day  when,  at  the  head  of  a 
powerful  army,  in  a  strong  fortification,  with  several  garrison- 
towns  still  in  their  possession,  v/ith  a  great  mass  of  the  popu- 
lation ready  to  rush  again  to  the  field,  and  with  a  French  fleet 
freighted  with  arms  and  with  troops  in  the  Shannon,  they  had 
been  induced,  upon  the  faith  of  a  solemn  compact,  to  lay  down 
their  swords,  and  put  their  trust  in  the  honor  of  the  King  and 
the  integrity  of  his  people.  They  must  have  cursed  the  day, 
when,  instead  of  adding  their  bones  to  the  remains  of  those 
who  lay  slaughtered  in  the  trenches  of  Limerick,  they  survived 
to  behold  the  Protestants  of  Ireland  taking  advantage  of  that 
fatal  surrender,  and  in  defiance  of  the  most  solemn  compacts, 
in  violation  of  a  clear  and  indisputable  treaty,  not  only  ex- 
cluding them  from  the  honors  and  privileges  of  the  state,  but 
wresting  their  property  from  their  hands,  instituting  a  legalized 
banditti  of  "  discoverers,"  exciting  their  children  into  an  insur- 
rection against  human  nature,  converting  filial  ingratitude  into 
a  merit,  and  setting  up  parricide  as  a  newly-invented  virtue,  in 
the  infernal  ethics  of  the  law. 

As  Sir  Theobald  Butler  had  anticipated  (for  he  intimates  it 
in  an  involuntary  expression  of  despondency),  his  arguments 
were  of  little  avail,  and  he  lived  long  enough  to  see  the  penal 
code  carried  to  its  atrocious  perfection,  and  chain  after  chain 
thrown  upon  his  country.  He  even  survived  an  act  of  parlia- 
ment by  which  Roman  Catholics  were  excluded  from  the  pro- 
fession in  which  he  had  earned  fortune  and  renown.  It  is  a 
common  notion  that  he  changed  his  religion  in  order  to  avert 
the  evils  which  he  so  powerfully  described  ;  but  I  was  informed 
by  his  grandson,  Mr.  Augustine  Butler,  that  he  died  in  the  reli- 


SIR   THEOBALD   BUTLEE.  87 

gion  In  which  he  had  lived,*  and  that  his  great  estates  became 
in  consequence  equally  divisible  among  his  children.f  He 
was  interred  in  the  church-yard  of  St.  James's  church,  in  Dub- 
lin, where  a  huge  but  rather  uncouth  monument  has  been 
raised  to  his  memory.  His  epitaph  differs  from  most  obituary 
panegyrics,  by  the  adherence  of  encomium  to  truth.  It  is 
inscribed  under  a  rude  and  now  mutilated  bust,  and  runs  as 
follows :  — 

Designatur  hac  effigie 

The»baldus  e  gente  Butlera 

Hibemus  Jurisconsultus 

Legnm,  Patrife,  nominis  decus 

Dighitate  equestri  donatus,  non  auctus 

Causidicus 

Argntus,  concinnus,  integer 

Barbaric  forensi,  et  vemacula  disertus 

Non  partium  studio 

Non  favoris  avtcupio 

Non  verboi'um  lenoc!nio 

'  Sed  rerum  pondere 

Et  ingenii  vi  insita 

Et  legum  scientia  penitiori 

Pollens 

Quern  lingua  solers,  illibata  fides 

Comitate  et  sale  multo  condita  gravitaa 

Quern  vitse  tenor  sincerus 

Et  recti  custos  animus 

Legum  recondita  depromere  sagax 

Ad  famee  fasti gium  evexere 

Fortunte  etiam,  ni  religio  obstaret,  facile  evexissenl. 

Obiit  Septuagenarius  XI  Martii,  1720. 

Notwithstanding  the  exclusion  of  Roman  Catholics  from 
the  Bar,  the  expedient  which  was  adopted  for  the  purpose 
does  not  appear  to  have  t)een  found  effectual.     A  certificate  of 

*  Sir  Theobold  Butler  died  in  March,  1720,  aged  seventy. —  M. 

t  The  anti-Catholic  Penal  code  enacted,  among  many  other  things,  that  no 
Catholic  heir  could  profit  by  primogeniture,  but  that  the  real  estate  was  equally 
divisible  among  all  the  children,  but  that  if  he  turned  Protestant  he  would  then 
have  the  whole  estate,  even  in  his  father's  lifetime :  if  a  Protestant  went  over 
to  the  Church  of  Rome,  or  procured  another  to  do  so,  it  was  high  treason.  A 
Catholic  wife  was  allowed  an  increase  of  jointure,  on  becoming  a  Protestant. 
A  priest  who  mamed  a  Catholic  to  a  Protestant,  was  liable  to  bo  hanged. —  M. 


88  THE    CATTTOLTC    BAR. 

conformity  was  all  tliat  was  required,  and  this  certificate  was 
so  easily  obtained,  that  the  members  of  the  obnoxious  religion 
were  still  able  to  creep   and   steal   into  the  profession.     The 
letters  of  Primate  Boulter,*  who  governed  Ireland  for  a  con- 
siderable time,  and  Avhose  simple  maxim  it  was  to  keep  Ire- 
land divided  in  order  that  her  dependency  might  be  secured, 
give  us  a  very  curious  insight  into  the  state  of  the  Irish  Bar  in 
the  year  1727.     In  a  letter  dated  the  7th  of  March,  1727,  he 
writes :  "  There  is  a  bill  gone  over  to  regulate  the  admission 
of  barrister,  attorneys,  six  clerks,  solicitors,  sub-sheriffs,   &c., 
which  is  of  the  last  consequence  to  this  kingdom.     The  prac- 
tice of  the  law,  from  the  top  to  the  bottom;  is  at  present  mostly 
in  the  hands  of  new  converts,  who   give  no  further  security 
on  this  account  than  producing  a  certificate  of  their  having 
received  the  sacrament  in  the  Church  of  England  or  Ireland, 
which  several  of  them,  who  were  Papists  in  London,  obtain  in 
the  road  hither,  and  demand  to  be  admitted  barristers  in  vir- 
tue of  it  at  their  arrival,  and  several  of  them  have  Popi£i 
wives,  and  have  masses  said  in  their  houses.     Everybody  here 
is  sensible  of  the  terrible  effects  of  this  growing  evil,  and  both 
Lords  and   Commons   are  most  eagerly  desirous  of  this  bill." 
(Boulter's  Letters,  vol.  i.,  p.  179.) 

The  horror  entertained  by  his  Grace  of  Dublin  for  barris- 
ters, whose  better  halves  were  infected  with  Popery,  appears 
ludicrous  at  this  day.  Doctor  King  considered  the  division  of 
allegiance  at  the  Bar,  between  the  law  and  the  fair  sex,  as 
highly  dangerous  to  the  security  of  the  Established  Church, 
and  would  have  taken  ''  au  pie  de  la  lettre"  Avhat  Lord  Ches- 
terfield said  of  the  beautiful  Lady  Palmer,t  that  she  was  the 
only  "  dangerous  Papist"  he  had  ever  seen  in  Ireland. 

*  Hugh  Boulter  was  Archbishop  of  Amiagh,  Primate  of  Ireland,  and  virtual 
Governor  of  the  countiy,  during  the  earlier  period  of  the  Hanoverian  dynasty, 
and  is  chiefly  remarkable  for  having  established  schools  for  the  instruction  of 
the  Irish  children ;  which  seminaries  were  eventually  perverted,  by  the  Ascen- 
dency party,  to  puiT^oses  of  proselytism. — Primate  Boulter  died  in  1742. — M. 

t  The  writer  of  this  article  was  acquainted  with  Lady  Palmer,  Avhen  sho 
was  upward  of  one  hundred  years  of  age.  Tho  admiration  which  Lord  Chea- 
terfield  is  known  to  have  entertained  for  this  lady  induced  me  to  seek  an  intro- 
duction to  her.     Although  rich,  she  occupied  a  small  lodging  in  Heniy  street. 


LADY    PALMER.  89 

I  know  not,  however,  whether  the  feeling  by  which  Doctor 
King  was  influenced,  be  wholly  extinct.  I  do  not  mean  to  say 
that  Lord  Wellesley  would  object  to  a  barrister  on  account  of 

where  she  lived  secluded  and  alone.  Over  the  chimney-piece  of  the  front 
drawing-room  was  suspended  the  picture  of  her  platonic  idolater.  It  was  a  half- 
length  portrait,  and  had,  I  believe,  been  given  to  her  by  the  man  of  whose 
adoration  she  was  virtuously  vain.  I  was  engaged  in  looking  at  this  picture, 
while  I  waited  on  the  day  of  my  first  introduction  for  this  pristine  beauty  of  the 
Irish  court.  While  I  gazed  upon  the  picture  of  a  man  who  united  so  many 
accomplishments  of  manner  and  of  mind,  and  observed  the  fine  intellectual 
smile,  which  the  painter  had  succeeded  in  stealing  upon  animated  canvass,  I 
fell  into  a  somewhat  imaginative  strain  of  thought,  and  asked  myself  what  sort 
of  woman  "  the  dangerous  Papist"  must  have  been,  in  whom  the  master  of  the 
graces  had  found  such  enchanting  peril.  "  What  a  charm,"  I  said,  "must  she 
have  possessed,  upon  whose  face  and  form  those  bright  eyes  reposed  in  il- 
luminated sweetness, — how  soft  and  magical  must  have  been  the  voice  from 
whose  whispers  those  lips  have  hung  so  often,  what  gracefulness  of  mind,  what 
an  easy  dignity  of  deportment,  what  elegance  of  movement,  what  sweet  vivacity 
of  expression,  how  much  polished  gayety  and  bewitching  sentiment  must  have 
been  united!"  I  had  formed  to  myself  an  ideal  image  of  the  young,  the  soft, 
the  fresh,  the  beautifid,  and  tender  girl,  who  had  fascinated  the  magician  of  so 
many  spells.  The  picture  was  almost  complete.  The  Castle  in  all  its  quondam 
lusti-e  rose  before  me,  and  I  almost  saw  my  Lord  Chesterfeld  conducting  Lady 
Palmer  through  the  movements  of  a  minuet,  when  the  door  was  slowly  opened, 
and  in  the  midst  of  a  volume  of  smoke,  which,  during  my  phantasmagoric  ima- 
ginations, had  not  inappropriately  filled  the  room,  I  beheld  in  her  own  proper 
person  the  being,  in  whose  ideal  creation  I  had  indulged  in  a  sort  of  Pygmalian 
dream.  The  opening  of  the  door  produced  a  nish  of  air,  which  caused  the 
smoke  to  spread  out  in  huge  wreaths  about  her,  and  a  weird  and  withered  form 
stood  in  the  midst  of  the  dispersing  vapor.  She  fixed  upon  me  a  wild  and 
sorceress  eye,  the  expression  of  which  was  aided  by  her  attitude,  her  black  at- 
tire, her  elongated  neck,  her  marked  and  strongly-moulded,  but  emaciated  fea- 
tures. She  leaned  with  her  long  ai-m  and  her  withered  hand  of  discolored  parch- 
ment upon  an  ivory-headed  cane,  while  she  stretched  forth  her  interrogating 
face,  and  with  a  smile,  not  free  from  ghastliness,  inquired  my  name.  I  men- 
tioned it,  and  her  expression,  as  she  had  been  informed  that  I  was  to  visit  her, 
immediately  changed.  After  the  ordinaiy  formulas  of  civility,  she  placed  her- 
self in  a  huge  chair,  and  entered  at  once  into  politics.  She  was  a  most  vehe- 
ment Catholic,  and  was  just  the  sort  of  person  that  Sir  Harcourt  Lees  would 
have  ducked  for  a  rebel  and  a  witch.  Lord  Chesterfield  and  the  Catholic 
question  were  the  only  subjects  in  which  she  seemed  to  take  any  interest. 
Upon  the  wrongs  done  to  her  country,  she  spoke  not  only  with  energy,  but  with 
eloquence,  and  with  every  pinch  of  snuff  poured  out  a  sentence  of  sedition. 
"  Steth,  sir,  it  is  not  to  be  borne,"  she  used  to  exclaim,  as  she  lifted  her  figure 
from  the  stoop  of  age,  with  her  eyes  flashing  with  i'lie,  and  struck  her  cane  vio- 


90  TfUC    CATHOLIC    BAM. 

his  "having  a  Popish  wife,  and  mass  said  in  his  liouse  ;  but  it 
is  observable  that,  of  tlie  three  Catholic  barristers  who  Lave 
been  promoted  under  his  Lordship's  administration,  by  a 
strange  matrimonial  coincidence  every  one  is  married  to  a 
Protestant. 

'The  bill  sent  over  by  Primate  Boulter  Avas  carried,  and 
Catholics  were  effectually  excluded  from  the- Bar.  From  1725 
to  1793  lawyers  earnestly  and  strenuously  professed  the  doc- 
trines of  the  state  ;  and  although  upon  his  death-bed  many 
an  orator  of  renown  supplicated  in  a  Conn  aught  accent  for  a 
prie^jt,  yet  his  lady,  whose  gentility  of  religion  was  brought 
into  some  sort  of  question,  and  who  would  Lave  considered  it 
as  utterly  derogatory  to  set  up  a  widow's  cap  to  the  memory  of 
a  relapsed  papist,  either  drowned  the  agonies  of  conscience  in 
the  vehemence  of  her  sorrows,  or  slapped  the  door  in  the  face 
of  the  intrepid  Jesuit,  v/ho  had  adventured  upon  tlie  almost 
hopeless  enterprise  of  saving  the  soul  of  the  expiring  counsel- 
lor. The  Bar  gradually  assumed  a  decidedly  Protestant  char- 
acter; and  although  an  occasional  Catholic  practised  as  a 
conveyancer,  yet  none  obtained  any  celebrity  in  the  only 
department  of  the  law  from  which  Roman  Catholics  were  not 
actually  excluded.  Indeed,  they  held  so  low  a  place,  that  it 
appears  to  have  been  a  kind  of  disrepute  to  have  had  anything 
to  do  with  them;  and  I  remember  to  have  read,  in  the  cause 
of  Simpson  against  Lord  Mountmorris,  the  deposition  of  a 
witness,  who  stated  as  a  ground  for  impeaching  a  deed,  exe- 
cuted by  the  Earl  of  Anglesea,  that  it  was  drawn  by  a  Papist. 
Roman    Catholics   were,   at   this   period,    excluded  from    the 

lently  to  the  ground.  Wishing  to  turn  the  conversation  to  more  interesting 
matter,  I  told  her  I  was  not  sm-prised  at  Loi'd  Chestci-field  having  called  her  a 
"  dangerous  Papist."  I  had  touched  a  chord,  which,  though  slackened,  was 
not  wholly  unstning.  The  patriot  relapsed  into  the  woman  ;  and  passing  at 
once  from  her  former  look  and  attitude,  she  leaned  back  in  her  chair,  and  draw- 
ing her  withered  hands  together,  while  her  arms  fell  loosely  and  languidly  be- 
fore her,  she  looked  up  at  the  picture  of  Lord  Chesterfeld  with  a  melancholy 

smile.     "  Ah  !"   she  said But  I  have  extended  this  notice  beyond  all 

reasonable  compass.  I  think  it  right  to  add,  after  si  much  mention  of  Lady 
Palmer,  that  although  she  was  vain  of  the  admiration  of  Lord  Chesterfield,  she 
took  care  never  to  lose  his  esteem,  and  that  her  eputation  was  without  a 
blemish. 


HALF   CONCESSIONS.  91 

English,  as  well  as  from  the  Irisli  Bar;  but  Booth,  the  great 
conveyancer,  was  a  Roman  Catholic,  and,  before  the  professors 
of  his  religion  were  admissible  to  the  rank  of  counsel,  Mr. 
Charles  Butler,  of  Lincoln's  Inn,  had  obtained  great  fame. 

In  the  year  1793  the  great  act  for  the  relief  of  the  Koman 
Catholics  was  passed.  It  was  a  piece  of  niggard  and  prepos- 
terous legislation  :  all,  or  nothing,  should  have  been  conceded. 
The  effect  of  a  partial  enfranchisement  was  to  give  the  means 
of  acquiring  Avealth,  influence,  intelligence,  and  power,  and  3^et 
withhold  the  only  legitimate  means  of  employing  them.  The 
Roman  Catholics  were  not  admitted  into,  but  brought  within 
reach  of  the  constitution.  They  were  still  placed  beyond  the 
state,  and  were  furnished  with  a  lever  to  shake  it.  They 
obtained  that  external  ])oint  d^ajyj^td  from  which  they  have 
been  enabled  to  exercise  a  disturbing  power.  The  extension 
of  the  elective  franchise  to  men,  who  were  at  the  same  time 
declared  to  be  ineligible  to  parliament,  and  the  admission  of 
Catholics  to  the  Bar  while  they  were  denied  its  honorable 
reward,  are  conspicuous  instances  of  impolicy. 

The  late  Mr.  George  Ponsonby*  was  strongly  impressed 
with  the  imprudence  of  allowing  Roman  Catholics  to  enter  the 
race  of  intelligence,  and  yet  shut  up  tlie  goal.  He  felt  that  the 
government  were  disciplining  troops  against  themselves,  and 
insisted  on  the  absurdity  of  exciting  ambition,  and  at  the  same 
tim>e  closing  the  avenues  to  its  legitimate  gratification.  He 
saw  that,  so  far  from  conciliating  the  Roman  Catholic  body  hy 
so  imperfect  and  lame  a  measure  of  relief,  their  indignation 
would  rather  be  provoked  by  what  was  refused,  than  their 
gratitude  be  awakened  by  what  was  granted  :  desire  would  be 
inflamed  by  an  approach  to  its  object,  while  it  Avas  denied  its 
natural  and  tranquillizing  enjoyment.  Mr.  Ponsonby's  antici- 
pations Avere  well-founded,  and  are  going  through  a  rapid 
process  of  verification. 

The  first  Roman  Catholics  who  took  advantage  of  the  en- 
nobling statute,  were  Mr.  Donnellan,  Mr.  Mac  Kenna,  Mr. 
Lynch,  and  Mr.  Bellew.     Every  one  of  those  gentlemen  (quod 

*  Lord  Clianceller  of  Ireland  under  "  All  the  Talents"  Ministry  of  1806-7. 
A  brief  memoir  of  him  occurs  in  the  ^)revious  volunie. —  M. 


92  THE    CATHOLIC    BAR. 

notat  as  Lord  Coke  says  in  his  occasional  intimations  to  Junior 
Bar)  was  provided  for  by  Government.  Mr.  Donnellan  ob- 
tained a  place  in  the  revenue ;  Mr.  Mac  Kenria  wrote  some 
very  clever  political  tracts,  and  was  silenced  witli  a  pension ; 
Mr.  Lynch  married  a  widow  with  a  pension,  which  was 
doubled  after  his  marriage ;  and  Mr.  Bellew  is  in  the  receipt 
of  six  hundred  pounds  a  year,  paid  to  him  quarterly  at  the 
Treasury.  The  latter  gentleman  is  deserving  of  notice. 
Whether  I  consider  him  as  an  individual,  as  the  representa- 
tive of  the  old  Catholic  aristocracy  at  the  Bar,  as  a  politician, 
a  religionist,  or  a  pensioner,  I  look  upon  this  able,  upright, 
starch,  solemn,  didactic,  pragmatical,  inflexible,  uncompromi- 
sing, obstinate,  pious,  moral,  good,  benevolent,  high-minded 
and  exceedingly  wrong-headed  person,  as  in  every  way  en- 
titled to  regard. 

Mr.  William  Bellew  is  a  member  of  one  of  the  most  distin- 
guished Roman  Catholic  families  in  Ireland.  There  was 
formerly  a  peerage  attached  to  his  name,  which  was  extin- 
guished in  an  attainder.  A  baronetcy  was  retained.  His 
father.  Sir  Patrick  Bellew,  was  a  man  of  a  high  spirit,  distin- 
guished for  his  munificence,  and  that  species  of  disastrous 
hospitality,  by  which  many  a  fine  estate  was  so  ingloriously 
dismembered.  He  constituted  a  sort  of  exception  among  the 
Catholic  gentry ;  for  at  the  time  Avhen  that  body  sank  under 
the  weight  of  accumulated  indignities,  Sir  Patrick  Bellew  ex- 
hibited a  lofty  sense  of  his  personal  importance,  and  was  suf- 
ficiently bold  to  carry  a  sword.  His  property  descended  to 
his  eldest  son.  Sir  Edward  Bellew.*  Mr.  William  Bellew,  the 
barrister,  who  was  his  second  son,  was  sent  to  the  Anglo-Saxon 
university  of  Douay,  whence  he  returned  with  all  the  alti- 
tude of  demeanor  for  which  his  father  was  remarkable,  but  with 
a  profound  veneration  for  all  constituted  authorities,  of  what- 
ever nature,  kind,  or  degree,  and  with  abstract  tendencies  to 
political  submission,  which  are  by  no  means  at  variance  Avith 
a  man's  interests  in  Ireland. 

*  Sir  Edward  Bellew,  who  died  in  1827,  was  M.  P.  for,  and  Lord  Lieuten- 
ant of,  the  County  of  Louth.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  the  present  Sir 
Patrick  Bellew. —  M. 


WILLIAM   BELLEW.  93 

He  was  one  of  the  first  Roman  Catholics  called  to  the  Bar, 
and  I  have  understood  from  some  of  his  contemporaries,  that,  as 
he  represented  the  Catholic  gentry,  and  was  considered  to 
take  a  decided  lead  in  their  proceedings,  in  his  first  appear- 
ance in  the  Four  Courts  he  attra?ted  much  notice.  His  gen- 
eral bearing  produced  a  sort  of  awe ;  and  it  was  obvious  that, 
as  Owen  Glendower  says,  "  he  was  not  in  the  roll  of  common 
men."  His  lofty  person,  his  stately  walk,  his  perpendicular 
attitude,  the  rectilineal  position  of  his  head,  his  solemnity  of 
gesture,  the  deep  and  meditative  gravity  of  his  expression,  his 
sustained  and  measured  utterance,  the  deliberation  of  his  tones, 
his  self-collectedness  and  concentration,  and  that  condensed, 
but  by  no  means  arrogant  or  overweening,  look  of  superiority 
"by  which  he  is  characterized,  fixed  a  universal  gaze  upon 
him;  and  from  the  contrast  between  him,  and  the  rapid,  bus- 
tling, and  airy  manner  of  most  of  his  brethren,  excited  a 
general  curiosity.  Heedless  of  observation,  and  scarcely  con- 
scious of  it,  the  forensic  aristocrat  passed  through  the  throng 
of  wondering  spectators,  and  as  Horatio  says  of  the  Royal 
Dane, 

"  with  solemn  march 
Went  slow  and  stately  by  them.*' 

There  was,  indeed,  something  spectral  in  his  aspect.  The 
phantom  of  the  old  Catholic  aristocracy  seemed  to  have  been 
evoked  in  his  person,  while  the  genius  of  Protestant  ascend- 
ency shrunk  before  its  majestic  apparition.  All  idea  of  check- 
ing "  the  growth  of  Popery"  vanished  in  an  instant  at  his 
sight ;  the  only  man  who  could  compete  with  him  in  longitude 
of  dimensions  being  Mr.  Mahaffy ;  but  that  gentleman's  stu- 
pendous length  sat  uneasily  upon  him,  whereas  the  soul  of  the 
lofty  Papist  seemed  to  inhabit  every  department  of  his  frame, 
and  would  have  disdained  to  occupy  any  other  than  its  sublime 
and  appropriate  residence.  High  as  his  post  and  demeanor 
were,  they  were  wholly  free  from  affectation.  With  a  great 
deal  of  pride,  he  manifested  neither  insolence  nor  conceit. 
He  looked  far  more  dignified  than  authoritative  ;  and  although 
a  strong  expression  of  austerity  was  inscribed  upon  his  counte- 
nance, it  was  by  no  means  heartless  or  even  severe.     If  I  were 


94:  THE    CATHOLIC   BAR. 

a  painter  and  were  employed  to  furnisli  illustrations  of  Ivan- 
hoe,  I  do  not  tliink  that  I  could  find  a  more  appropriate  model 
than  Mr.  Bellew  for  the  picture  of  Lucas  Beaumanoir.  His 
visage  is  inexorable  without  fierceness;  and  many  a  time  hath 
he  been  observed  fixing  his  immitigable  eye  upon  a  beauty  in 
the  dock  at  the  assizes  of  Dundalk,  with  that  expression  with 
which  the  Grand  Master  is  represented  to  have  surveyed  the 
unfortunate  Jewess.  His  friend  Mr.  Mac  Kenna  used  to  ob- 
serve, that  "  if  William  Bellew  saw  a  man  hanging  from  every 
lamp-post  down  Oapel  street,  in  his  morning  walk  from  Great 
Charles  street  to  the  Four  Courts,  the  only  question  he  would 
ask,  would  be  whether  they  were  hanged  according  to  law  V* 

Mr.  Bellew  came  with  signal  advantages  to  the  Bar.  He 
was  closely  connected  with  the  oldest  and  most  opulent  Roman 
Catholic  families,  and  was  employed  as  their  domestic  counsel. 
Their  wills,  their  purchases,  and  marriage  articles  were  drawn 
under  his  inspection.  It  was,  I  have  heard,  not  a  little  agree- 
able to  behold  Mr.  Bellew  going  through  a  marriage  settle- 
ment, where  an  ancient  Catholic  family  was  to  be  connected 
with  an  inferior  caste.  In  Ireland,  as  well  as  in  the  sister- 
country,  the  pride  of  birth  prevails  among  the  Homan  Catholic 
gentry  beyond  almost  any  other  passion.  As  in  England  we 
find  a  universal  diffusion  of  cousinsliip  through  the  principal 
Catholic  houses,  so  the  ancient  blood  of  the  Catholics  of  the 
Pale  has  been,  by  a  similar  process  of  intermarriage,  carried 
through  an  almost  uniform  circulation. 

This  pride  of  birth  among  the  Catholic  gentry,  when  ex- 
cluded from  political  distinction,  was  perfectly  natural.  Hav- 
ing no  field  for  the  exercise  of  their  talents,  and  without  any 
prospect  of  obtaining  an  ascent  in  society  through  their  own 
merits,  they  looked  back  to  the  achievements  of  their  ances- 
tors, and  consoled  themselves  with  the  brilliant  retrospect. 
While  a  young  Irish  Protestant  tlirew  himself  into  the  field  of 
politics,  an  Irish  Catholic  was  left  without  the  least  scope  for 
enterprise,  and  had  scarce  any  resource,  but  to  pace  up  and 
down  the  damp  apartments  of  his  family  mansion,  and  to  com- 
mune with  the  high-plumed  warriors  of  the  Pale,  who  frowiaed 
in  mouldering  paint  before  him,     The  young  ladies  too  were 


WILLIAM    BELLE W.  95 

instructed  to  look  witli  emulation  on  the  composed  visages  of 
their  grand  aunts,  and  to  reverence  the  huge  circumference  of 
hoop  in  which  their  more  sacred  symmetries  were  encompassed 
ftnd  concealed. 

For  a  considerable  time,  it  was  possible  to  maintain  the 
dignity  of  the  Roman  Catholic  families  without  any  plebeian 
intercourse ;  but  at  last  the  pressure  of  mortgages  and  judg- 
ments became  too  great,  and  it  was  requisite  to  save  the  estate 
at  the  expense  of  the  purity  of  its  owner's  blood.  After  a 
struggle  and  a  sigh,  the  head  of  an  old  Catholic  house  resigned 
himself  to  the  urgency  of  circumstances,  and  yielded  to  the 
"necessity  of  intermingling  the  vulgar  stream,  which  had  crept 
through  the  grocers  and  manufacturers  of  the  Liberty,  with  a 
current  which^  however  pure,  began  to  run  low.  A  priest,  a 
friend  of  the  family  —  who,  as  matrimony  is  one  of  the  seven 
sacraments,  thinks  himself  in  duty  bound  to  promote  so  salu- 
brious a  rite,  is  consulted.  He  gives  a  couple  of  taps  to  his 
gold  snuff-box,  tenders  a  pinch  to  the  old  gentleman;  protests 
that  there  are  risks  in  celibacy  —  that  it  is  needful  to  husband 
the  constitution  and  the  estate  ;.  and,  observing  that  the  young 
squire,  though  a  little  pale,  is  a  pretty  fellow,  puts  his  finger 
to  his  nose,  and  hints  at  a  young  damsel  in  New-E-ow  (a  peni- 
tent of  his  reverence,  and  a  mighty  good  kind  of  young  woman, 
not  long  come  from  the  Cork  convent),  with  ruddy  cheeks  and 
vigorous  arms,  a  robust  waist  and  antigallican  toes.  The 
parties  are  brought  together.  The  effect  of  juxtaposition  is 
notorious  —  most  of  my  readers  know  it  by  experience.  The 
young  gentleman  stutters  a  compliment ;  the  heart  of  the 
young  lady  and  her  wooden  fan  are  in  a  flutter ;  the  question 
is  popped.  The  old  people  put  their  heads  together.  Con- 
sideration of  the  marriage,  high  blood,  and  equity  of  redemp- 
tion, upon  one  side  ;  and  rude  health  and  twenty  thousand 
pounds  on  the  other.  The  bargain  is  struck ;  and,  to  insure 
the  hymeneal  negotiation,  nothing  remains  but  that  Counsellor 
Bellew  should  look  over  the  settlements. 

Accordingly  a  Galway  attorney  prepares  the  draft  marriage 
settlement,  with  a  skin  for  every  thousand,  and  waits  on 
Mr.  Bellew.     Laying  thirty  guineas  on  the  tables,  and  think- 


96  THE    CATHOLTC    BAR. 

ing  that  upon  the  credit  of  such  a  fee  he  may  presume  to  offer 
his  opinion,  he  commences  with  an  ejaculation  on  the  fall  of 
the  good  old  families,  until  Mr.  Bellew,  after  counting  the 
money,  casts  a  Caius  Marius  look  upon  him,  and  awes  him 
into  respect.  He  unrolls  the  volume  of  parchment,  and  the 
eye  of  the  illustrious  conveyancer  glistens  at  the  sight  of  the 
ancient  and  venerable  name  that  stands  at  the  head  of  the 
indenture.  But,  as  he  advances  through  the  labyrinth  of 
limitations,  he  grows  alarmed  and  disturbed  ;  and,  on  arriving 
at  the  words  ''  on  the  body  of  the  said  Judy  Mac  Gilligan  to 
be  begotten,"  he  drops  his  pen,  and  puts  the  settlement  aAvay, 
with  something  of  the  look  of  a  Frenchman  when  he  intimates 
his  perception  of  an  unusually  bad  smell.  It  is  only  after  an 
ii:iterval  of  reflection,  and  when  he  has  recalled  the  fiscal  phi-' 
losophy  of  Vespasian,  that  he  is  persuaded  to  resume  his 
labors ;  but  does  not  completely  recover  his  tranquillity  of 
mind  until,  turning  the  back  of  his  brief,  he  marks  that  most 
harmonious  of  all  monosyllables,  "  paid,"  at  the  foot  of  the 
consolatory  stipend. 

No  man  at  the  Bar  is  more  exact,  careful,  technical,  and 
expert,  in  conveyancing,  than  Mr.  Bellew.  He  at  one  time 
monopolized  the  whole  Catholic  business. 

Nor  was  it  to  the  E-oman  Catholic  body  that  his  reputation 
as  a  lawyer  was  confined.  He  deservedly  obtained  a  very 
high  character  with  the  whole  public  for  the  extent  of  his 
erudition,  his  familiar  knowledge  of  equity  and  of  the  common 
law,  the  clearness  of  his  statements,  the  ingenuity  and  astute- 
ness of  his  reasoning,  and  for  that  species  of  calm  and  delib- 
erative elocution  which  is  of  such  importance  in  the  Court  of 
Chancery.*     I  look  upon  Mr.  Bellew  as  a  man  who  has  most 

*  In  a  book  like  this,  chiefly  devoted  to  legal  subjects,  it  cim  not  be  out  of 
place  to  make  a  brief  statement  respecting-  the  British  Court  of  Chanceiy. 
Next  below  the  House  of  Lords,  before  which  come  all  final  appeals  —  the  Chan- 
cery Court  has  jurisdiction.  Originally  established  to  moderate  the  severity 
and  rectify  the  errors  of  the  other  Courts,  its  proceedings  are  essentially  in 
equity,  though,  at  times,  it  can  act  in  the  capacity  of  a  Court  of  common  law, 
though  it  can  not  sunnnon  a  juiy  or  try  facts.  Its  power  has  been  immense 
since  its  establishment,  the  exact  date  of  which  is  not  known,  though  it  is  as- 
certained that  this  Court  had  a  separate  jurisdiction  on  the  reign  of  Edward 


THE    COURT    OF   CHANCERY.  97 

grievously  suffered  by  Lis  exclusion  from  the  inner  bar,  from 
whicli  nothing  but  his  religion  could  have  kept  hirn.  It  was 
in  the  Court  of  Chancery  that  his  business  lay  almost  entirely ; 

III.,  and  is  believed  to  have  been  derived  from  the  rule  of  the  Saxon  monarchs, 
when  a  party  who  thought  justice  was  not  rendered  to  him  could  appeal  to  the 
King  in  Council,  for  his  revision  of  the  case,  most  of  which  appeals,  as  they 
grew  numerous,  were  transferred  to  a  subject  "learned  in  the  law" — usually 
an  ecclesiastic,  at  that  time.  This  Court  (amid  other  means  to  defeat  and  pun- 
ish fraud,  oppression,  breaches  of  trust,  and  every  kind  of  injustice)  can  com- 
pel a  defendant  to  discover  facts  which  are  against  his  own  cause.  But  the 
great  evil,  arising  from  inci'ease  and  accumulation  of  business  as  well  as  from 
the  delays  of  judges,  has  been  the  dilatory  nature,  with  the  consequent  expense 
of  the  proceedings  requisite  to  obtain  a  decision.  Under  Lord  Eldon,  who  was 
Lord  Chancellor  for  five-and-twenty  years,  and  who  doubted  upon  the  simplest 
points,  though  his  judgments  were  excellent  when  given,  the  Court  of  Chan- 
cery became  a  crying  evil  instead  of  a  substantial  good.  Expenses  and  delays 
ruined  many  wealthy  persons  who  had  come  before  this  tribunal,  and  it  caused 
many  a  broken  heart,  and  I'uined  hope.  La  Lord  Eldon's  time,  owing  to  the 
accumulation  of  business,  the  amount  of  property  litigated  in  Chancery,  was 
eleven  million  pounds  sterling  or  fifty-five  million  dollars.  When  Brougham 
was  in  the, House  of  Commons,  he  repeatedly  and  strongly  contended  for  the 
necessity  of  a  Reform  in  the  Court  of  Chancery.  In  1830,  Brougham  became 
Chancellor.  "  There  is  Brougham,"  said  Sydney  Smith,  "  sworn  in  as  Chan- 
cellor at  noon,  and  laying  on  the  table  of  the  Lords,  at  six  o'clock  the  same 
day,  a  Bill  for  Chancery  RefoiTn."  A  great  deal  was  attempted  in  this  respect 
—  but  the  Lord  Chancellor,  who  is  not  only  a  judge,  but  also  a  political  leader, 
as  one  of  the  Cabinet,  besides  having  to  sit  as  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Lords, 
is  unable  to  do  eveiything,  unless  he  had  fifty  hands  and  twice  fifty  heads.  The 
separation  of  the  judicial  from  political  labors  of  the  Chancery  has  been  sug- 
gested, and  will  probably  take  place.  Lord  Brougham,  during  the  four  years 
he  presided,  disposed  of  nearly  all  the  arrears  of  his  predecessors,  Eldon  and 
Lyndhurst,  and  cleared  off,  by  prompt  adjudication,  the  cases  which  originated 
in  his  own  time  and  were  ripe  for  decision.  His  successors  (Cottenham,  Lynd- 
hurst, and  Truro),  did  not  follow  in  his  steps ;  ill-health,  pre-occupation  with 
other  matters,  and  disinclination  to  labor  prevented  them.  In  1852,  during 
nine  months  of  which  Lord  St.  Leonards  was  Chancellor,  he  manifested  a  strong 
inclination  to  reform  the  Chancexy  system ;  his  successor.  Lord  Cranworth, 
appears  disposed  to  let  matters  rest  as  they  are.  But  there  is  a  vast  improve- 
ment on  the  system  as  it  was  in  Lord  Eldon's  doubtful  era.  In  his  time,  and 
greatly  against  his  consent,  a  Vice-Chancellor  was  appointed,  to  assist  the 
Chancellor  —  there  now  are  three,  besides  two  Lord  Justices  of  Appeal,  while 
a  great  deal  of  equity  business  continues  to  be  done  by  the  Master  of  the  Rolls. 
The  delaying  course  of  refen'ing  cases  to  the  Masters  in  Chancery,  for  inquiiy, 
is  in  course  of  change ;  the  number  of  Masters  is  lessened,  and  on  the  judges 
themselves  will  principally  rest  the  immediate  inquiry  into,  and  examination  of 

Vol.  II.— 5 


98  THE    CATFIOLTC    BAR. 

and  in  that  Court,  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  have  a  silk 
gown,  in  order  to  be  listened  to  with  ordinary  attention.  The 
reason  is  this  :  not  that  Lord  Manners  pays  no  respect  to  any 
individual  who  is  not  in  silk  attire,  but  because  the  multitude 
of  King's  Counsel,  who  precede  a  lawyer  in  a  stuff  gown,  of 
necessity  exhaust  the  subject,  and  leave  him  the  lees  and 
dregs  of  the  case  * 

Mr.  Bellew  has  lived  to  see  his  inferiors  in  talent  and  in 
knowledge  raised  above  his  head,  and  it  is  now  his  doom,  at 
the  end  of  a  cause,  to  send  his  arguments  like  spent  shot,  after 
the  real  contest  has  been  decided,  and  the  hot  fire  is  over.  His 
situation  would  be  very  different,  indeed,  if  it  were  his  office 
to  state  cases  and  open  important  motions,  for  which  no  man 
is  more  eminently  qualified.  The  whole  Bar  feel  that  he 
labors  under  a  great  hardship  in  this  particular,  for  which  a 
pen&ion  of  six  hundred  pounds  sterling  a-year  affords  a  very 
inadequate  compensation.  Mr.  Bellew's  pension  of  six  hundred 
pounds  has  effectually  excluded  him  from  all  useful  inter- 
ference in  Roman  Catholic  affairs ;  for,  whenever  he  opposes 
a  popular  measure,  it  is  sufficient  to  refer  to  his  salary  at  the 
Castle,  in  order  to  excite  the  popular  feeling  against  him.  He 
has,  however,  upon  this  subject,  been  a  good  deal  misrepre-  , 
sented,  and  it  is  only  an  act  of  justice  to  him  to  state  the  facts.        J 

The  Catholic  aristocracy  supported  the  Union.     They  were       I 
led  astray  by  a  promise  from  Lord  Cornwallis,  and  by  such  an 
intimation  from  Pitt   as  induced   him   to  resign.f      I  do  not 

facts.  With  such  "  aids  and  appliances  to  boot,"  it  is  natural  to  expect  that 
in  future,  cases  will  not  be  before  the  Court  for  forty,  thirty,  or  even  twenty 
years :  one  case  was  actually  undecided  after  it  had  been  over  a  centuiy  in  the 
Court. —  M. 

*  At  the  Irish,  as  well  as  at  the  English  bar,  no  counsel  is  allowed  to  go  ovei 
the  same  line  of  argument  taken  by  another.  Therefore,  pre-audience  being 
the  right  of  those  who  have  patents  of  precedency,  or  wear  the  silk  gown  or  the 
coif,  the  junior  in  a  stuff  gown  usually  finds  the  subject  exhausted,  by  previous 
speakers,  before  he  has  an  opportunity  of  speaking.  Now  and  then,  a  junio.- 
makes  a  hit  by  coming  out  with  points  of  law  or  quoting  cases  neglected  by  his 
seniors—- but  this  is  rare. —  M. 

t  There  is  no  doubt  that  Pitt,  when  he  intrigued  to  effect  the  Union,  premised 
that  it  should  be  followed  by  Catholic  Emancipation.  When  he  found  that 
George  III.  would  not  allow  him  to  fulfil    this   promise,    Pitt    at    once     ro» 


MK.    BELLEW.  99 

intend  to  discuss  the  merits  of  tlie  question,  but  can  readily 
conceive  that  many  a  good  man  might  have  advocated  the 
measure,  without  earning  for  his  motto,  "  Vendidit  Tiic  auro 
patriam.''^*  I  am  fully  convinced,  from  what  I  know  of  the 
honorable  cast  of  Mr.  Bellew's  mind,  that  he  never  did  pro- 
mote the  measure  from  any  sordid  views  to  his  own  interest. 
Lord  Oastlereagh  was  well  aware  of  the  importance  of  securing 
the  support  of  the  leading  Roman  Catholic  gentry,  and  the  place 
of  assistant-barrister  was  promised  to  Mr.  Bellew.  Whether  the 
promise  was  made  before  or  after  the  Union,  I  am  not  aware ; 
nor  is  it  of  consequence  excepting  we  adopt  the  scholastic 
distinction  of  Father  Foigard,  in  his  argumentative  assault 
upon  Cherry's  virtue  :  "  If  it  be  before,  it  is  a  bribe  ;  if  it  be 
after,  it  is  only  a  gratification."  At  all  events,  I  am  con- 
vinced that  Mr.  Bellew  did  nothing  at  variance  with  honor 
and  conscience  from  any  mercenary  consideration. 

The  place  of  assistant-barrister  became  vacant :  Lord  Cas- 
tlereagh  was  reminded  of  his  engagement,  when,  behold  !  a 
petition,  signed  by  the  magistrates  of  the  county  to  which  Mr. 
BellcAV  was  about  to  be  nominated,  is  presented  to  the  Lord- 
Lieutenant,  praying  that  a  Roman  Catholic  should  not  be 
appointed  to  any  judicial  office,  and  intimating  their  determina- 

signed  —  as  it  was  made,  with  an  impression  on  his  mind,  cunningly  kept  up 
by  the  King-,  that  there  would  be  no  obstacle,  on  the  part  of  Royalty,  to  admit- 
ting the  Catholics  within  the  pale  of  the  Constitution. —  Lord  Comwallis,  men- 
tioned in  the  text,  was  Lord  Lieutenant  of  L'eland  during  the  insurrection  of 
1798,  and  went  as  plenipotentiary  to  France,  in  1801,  in  which  capacity  he 
signed  the  treaty  of  Amiens.  His  whole  public  course  was  distinguished.  In 
1770,  he  was  one  of  the  four  young  peers  who  joined  Lord  Camden  in  a  prot- 
est against  the  taxation  of  America,  which  made  Lord  Mansfield  sneeringly 
gay,  "Poor  Camden!  he  could  only  get  four  boys  to  support  him"~yet,  as  a 
military  man,  Lord  Comwallis  had  a  command  in  the  American  war,  where 
he  concluded  his  operations  by  being  out-generalled  by  Washington,  to  whom 
he  surrendered  himself  and  his  army.  In  1786,  he  went  out  to  India,  as  Gov- 
ernor-General and  commander-in-chief,  where  he  distinguished  himself  against 
Tippoo  Saib.  On  his  return,  he  was  made  a  Marquis,  in  1792.  He  was  again 
sent  to  India  in  1804,  where  he  died,  in  1805,  aged  sixtj'-seven.  He  was  pop- 
ular in  Ireland,  as  well  as  in  India,  having  certainly  exerted  himself  to  check 
the  inhumanity  of  the  triumphant  royalists.  He  had  no  genius,  but  a  great 
deal  of  common  sense  —  which  is  more  I'are  and  valuable. —  M. 
*  He  sold  his  countiy  for  gold. —  M. 


100  THE    CATHOLIC    BAR. 

tion  not  to  act  with  him.  The  government  were  a  good  deal 
embarrassed  by  this  notification  ;  and  in  order  at  once  to  fulfil 
the  spirit  of  their  contract,  and  not  to  give  offence  to  the 
Protestant  magistrates,  a  pension  equivalent  to  the  salary  of  a 
chairman  was  given  to  Mr.  Belle w,  and  he  was  put  in  the 
enjoyment  of  the  fruits  of  the  ofiice,  without  the  labor  of 
cultivation.* 

That  it  was  reprehensible  to  tax  the  people  with  an  addi- 
tional pension  on  the  part  of  the  Irish  government,  out  of  the 
miserable  dread  of  irritating  a  few  Protestant  gentlemen,  can 
not,  I  think,  be  questioned  :  and  but  few  persons  will  be  in- 
clined to  attach  any  great  blame  to  Mr.  Bellew  for  having  ac- 
cepted of  this  compensation.  It  would  be  very  idle,  however, 
to  enter  into  any  explanation  upon  these  subjects  with  the 
Roman  Catholic  body,  among  whom  the  very  name  of  pen- 
sioner, connected  as  it  is  with  all  sorts  of  back  door  and  post- 
ern services  at  the  Castle,  carries  a  deep  stigma.  No  matter 
how  well  Mr.  Bellew  may  argue  a  point  at  a  Catholic  assem- 
bly ;  no  matter  how  cogent  and  convincing  his  arguments  may 

*  The  County  judges  in  Ireland,  who  virtually  preside  at  Quarter  Sessions, 
while  they  are  supposed  only  to  advise  the  justices  of  the  peace  who  sit  (ignoranl 
of  law)  upon  the  Bench,  are  called  Assistant-Barristers,  an  appellation  which 
by  no  means  indicates  their  position  and  duties.  Richard  Martin,  formerly  of 
the  Irish  and  now  of  the  English  bar  —  a  man  of  great  legal  acumen,  clear  and 
reasoning  eloquence,  ready  wit,  and  vast  personal  weight  —  tells  a  good  an- 
ecdote illustrative  of  this.  Henry  Deane  Freeman,  an  eminent  lawyer,  was 
"  Assistant  Banister"  in  one  of  the  Connaught  counties,  and  went  the  Munster- 
Circuit,  as  a  practising  lawyer.  He  was  prosecuting  a  man  accused  of  robbery, 
who  produced  as  witness  to  his  character,  another  worthy,  instantly  recognised 
by  Mr.  Freeman,  as  an  old  acquaintance.  In  cross-examination  this  man  was 
asked,  "  Have  not  you  stood  in  the  dock,  as  a  criminal?" — The  witness  sulkily 
replied,  "  What's  that  to  you?" — Mr.  Freeman;  "  Youmust  answer  me.  Were 
not  you  tried  in  Galway  for  robbery?"  Witness:  "Well,  if  I  was,  I  didn't 
do  it."  —  Mr.  Freeman:  '*  Of  course  not  —  the  number  of  innocent  culprits  is 
immense.  Were  not  you  convicted  and  sent  to  jail  for  six  months?" — By 
this  time,  the  witness  had  recognised  his  examiner,  who,  as  Assistant-Barrister 
in  Galway,  had  tried  and  sentenced  him.  Turning  to  the  judge,  with  a  side- 
long look  of  contempt  at  Mr.  Freeman,  he  said,  sotto  voce,  as  if  he  were  confi- 
dentially communicating  valuable  information,  "  My  Lord !  you  must  not  mind 
what  that  fellow  says.  He's  an  imposter.  He  isn't  a  real  barrister.  He's 
only  an  ^Iw-sistant  Barrister,  and  not  worth  your  notice." — M. 


I 


ME.    BELLEW.  101 

be  in  favor  of  a  more  calm  and  moderate  tone  of  proceedings ; 
the  moment  Mr.  O'Oonnell  lifts  up  his  strong  arm,  and  with 
an  ejaculation  of  integrity  "  thanks  his  God  that  he  is  not  a 
pensioner !"  all  the  Douay  syllogisms  of  Mr.  Bellew  vanish  at 
the  exclamation,  and  yells  and  shouts  assail  the  retainer  of 
government  from  every  side.  Had  he  the  eloquence  of  De- 
mosthenes, the  clinking  of  the  gold  would  be  heard  amid  the 
thunder. 

Yet  I  entertain  no  doubt  that  Mr.  Bellew  has  not,  in  his 
political  conduct,  been  actuated  by  any  mean  and  dishonest 
motive.  I  utterly  dissent  from  him  in  his  views,  principles, 
and  opinions ;  but  I  believe  that  he  is  only  acting  in  confor- 
mity with  impressions  received  at  a  very  early  period,  which 
his  education  and  habits  tended  not  a  little  to  confirm.  His 
first  opinions  were  formed  at  a  period  when  the  Roman  Catho- 
lic aristocracy  was  actuated  by  a  spirit  very  different  from 
that  which  it  has  lately  evinced.  Much  condemnation  has 
been  attached  to  that  body  for  their  want  of  vigor  in  the  con- 
duct of  Catholic  affairs.  But  allowances  ought  to  be  made  for 
them.  The  penal  code  had,  after  a  few  years,  ground  the  gen- 
try almost  to  powder.  They  lived  in  a  state  of  equal  terror 
and  humiliation.  From  their  infancy  they  were  instructed  to 
look  upon  every  Protestant  with  alarm ;  for  it  was  in  the 
power  of  the  meanest  member  of  that  privileged  class  to  file  a 
bill  of  discovery,  and  strip  them  of  their  estates.  At  their 
ordinary  meals,  they  must  have  regarded  their  own  children 
with  awe,  and  felt  that  they  were  at  their  mercy. 

Swift  represents  the  whole  body  as  little  better  than  hewers 
of  wood  and  drawers  of  water.  The  complication  of  indignities 
to  which  they  were  exposed  must  necessarily  have  generated 
bad  moral  influences ;  and  accordingly  we  find  in  their  petitions 
and  remonstrances  a  tone  of  subserviency  at  which  their  de- 
scendants would  blush.  Even  after  the  penal  code  was  re- 
laxed, and  they  were  restored  to  the  rank  of  citizens,  they 
preserved  the  attitude  of  humility  to  which  they  had  been 
accustomed ;  and  when  the  load  which  they  had  carried  so 
long  was  taken  off,  they  retained  a  stoop.  At  length,  how- 
ever, they  stand  erect  in  their  country ;  and,  with  very  few 


102  THE   CATHOLIC   BAB. 

exceptions,  exhibit  the  same  spirit  as  the  great  mass  of  the 
people. 

Lord  Fiugall,  though  prevented  by  his  health  from  taking 
an  active  part  in  public  affairs,  gives  evidence  of  his  assent 
to  the  bold  and  vigorous  course  of  measures  adopted  by  the 
body,  of  which  he  is  the  hereditary  head,  by  the  presence  of 
his  son.  The  latter.  Lord  Killeen,  manifests  as  much  energy 
and  determination,  as  he  does  sound  sense  and  admirable  dis- 
cretion.* Lord  Gormanstown  has  thrown  himself  with  en- 
thusiasm into  the  national  cause,  and  feels  the  injuries  of  his 
country  with  a  deep  and  indignant  sensibility  ;t  and  even  Lord 
Kenmare,  whose  love  of  retirement  excludes  him  from  the 
bustle  of  public  meetings,  lends  to  the  Catholic  Association 
the  authority  of  his  name,  and  shows  that  the  spirit  of  patriot- 
ism has  penetrated  the  deep  woods  of  Killarney,  in  which  his 
lordship  and  his  excellent  lady  (the  sister  of  Mr.  Wilmot  Hor- 
ton)  are  connubially  embowered.^     I  should  not  omit  to  add, 

*  The  late  Earl  of  Fingall  was  the  Catholic  Peer  who,  at  the  Royal  visit  to 
Ireland  in  1821,  was  made  a  Knight  of  St  Patrick  by  George  IV.  In  the  poem 
called  "  The  Irish  Avatara,"  in  ridicule  of  the  servility  of  all  ranks  and  creeds  on 
this  occasion,  Byron  asks 

"  Will  thy  yard  of  blue  riband,  poor  Fingall,  recall 
The  fetters  from  millions  of  Catholic  limbs  ?" 
The  barony  of  Killeen  dates  as  early  as  1181.  The  Earldom  was  created  in 
1628,  and  Lord  Fingall  was  made  a  peer  of  the  United  Kingdom  in  1831.  He 
died  in  July,  1826.  His  son,  Lord  Killeen,  who  is  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Meath, 
represented  that  county  in  1831,  and  took  a  prominent  part  in  politics,  before 
the  Catholic  Relief  Bill  was  passed,  in  1829.  He  is  a  Privy  Counsellor  of  Ire- 
land.—  M. 

t  An  ancestor  of  Viscount  Gormanstown  sided  with  James  II.,  in  Ireland, 
and  after  his  death  William's  government  passed  an  outlawry  against  him  for 
high  treason.  The  title  ceased  to  be  legally  recognised,  but  in  August,  1800, 
on  proceedings  taken  in  the  Court  of  King's  Bench,  by  consent  of  the  Crown, 
the  outlawry  was  reversed,  and  Jenico  Preston  received  a  writ  of  summons  as 
a  peer,  and  is  the  twelfth  Viscount.  He  took  part  with  O'Connell  in  the  agi- 
tation preceding  Emancipation. —  M. 

t  The  ancestor  of  the  Earl  of  Kenmare  received  a  peei-age  from  James  II. 
which  was  not  recognised,  as  it  was  conferred  after  that  Monarch  had  lost  the 
throne.  In  1800,  the  Earldom  was  created  anew.  In  1841,  Lord  Kenmare 
was  made  a  British  peer.  After  Emancipation,  he  took  little  part  in  politics, 
but  was  a  Catholic  and  a  Whig.     He  died  in  the  autumn  of  1853.     The  Ken- 


MR.   BELLEW.  103 

that  Sir  Edward  Bellew  and  his  son,  who  is  a  young  man  of 
very  considerable  abilities,  and  likely  to  make  a  distinguished 
figure,  displayed  during  the  late  election  for  the  county  of 
Louth  great  public  spirit,  energy,  and  determination. 

But  amid  this  almost  universal  change  in  the  general  tem- 
perature of  the  country,  amid  this  general  ascent  of  the  mer- 
curial spirit  of  the  people,  Mr.  William  Bellew  remains  at 
zero.  Not  the  smallest  influence  is  perceptible  in  the  cold 
rigidity  of  his  opinions.  True  to  the  doctrine  of  non-resist- 
ance, he  brings  up  in  its  support  the  whole  barbarous  array 
of  syllogistic  forms  with  which  his  recollections  of  Douay  can 
supply  him.  It  is  in  vain  that  the  rapid  progress  of  the  Cath- 
olic cause  is  urged  against  him  :  you  appeal  in  vain  to  the 
firmness,  union,  and  organization  of  the  people,  which  have 
been  effected  through  the  Catholic  Association :  the  insurrection 
of  the  peasantry  against  their  landlords,  and  the  consequent 
sense  of  their  own  rights  with  which  they  have  begun  to  be 
impressed,  are  treated  with  utter  scorn  by  this  able  dialecti- 
cian, who  meets  you  at  every  step  with  his  major  drawn  from 
religion,  and  his  minor  derived  from  passive  obedience,  and 
disperses  your  harangue  with  his  peremptory  conclusion.  Nor 
is  it  to  speculation  that  he  confines  his  innate  reverence 
for  the  powers  that  be ;  for  after  the  dissolution  of  the  old 
Roman  Catholic  Association  by  an  act  of  Parliament,  when 
an  effort  was  making  to  raise  another  body  out  of  its  ruins,  of 
his  own  accord  Mr.  Bellew  gratuitously  published  a  letter,  in 
the  public  journals,  to  demonstrate  to  the  Attorney-General 
that  it  would  be  legal  to  put  it  down.  In  this  view  Mr.  Plun- 
ket  does  not  appear  to  have  concurred. 

mare  estates  include   some  of  the  finest  parts  of  Killarney  sceneiy,  and  the  Eail, 
who  was  not  an  absentee,  was  an  excellent  landlord. —  Sir  Robert  Wilmot  Hor- 
ton,  who  assumed  the  latter  name  on  marriage  with  an  heiress  — a  very  lovely 
woman,  upon  whom  Lord  Byron  wrote  the  lines  commencing^ 
"  She  walks  in  beauty  —  like  the  light 

Of  cloudless  climes  and  stormy  skies, 

And  all  that's  best  of  dark  and  bright 

Meet  in  her  aspect  and  her  eyes  ;" 
was  an  earnest  advocate  for  Emigration,  went  to   Ceylon  as   Governor,  anil 
died  in  1841.— M. 


104  THE    CATirOLTC    CAE. 

Notwithstanding  tlie  censure  Avlncli  I  have  intimated  of  Mr. 
Bellew's  political  tendencies  and  opinions,  I  repeat,  and  that 
sincerely  and  unaffectedly,  tliat  I  entirely  accpit  him  of  all 
deliberate  corruption.  His  private  life  gives  an  earnest  of  in- 
tegrity which  I  can  not  question.  It  is,  in  all  his  individual 
relations  in  society,  deserving  of  the  most  unqualified  enco- 
mium. It  would  be  a  deviation  from  delicacy,  even  for  the  pur- 
poses of  praise,  to  follow  Mr.  Bellew  through  the  walks  of 
private  life.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  a  more  generous,  amiable, 
and  tender-hearted  man  is  not  to  be  found  in  his  profession, 
and  underneath  a  frozen  and  somewhat  rugged  surface,  a 
spring  of  deep  and  abundant  goodness  lives  in  his  mind. 

If  in  the  hasty  writing  of  the  present  sketch,  I  have  allowed 
grotesque  images  in  connection  with  Mr.  Bellew  to  pass  across 
my  mind,  I  have  "  set  down  naught  in  malice ;"  and  if  I  have 
ventured  on  a  smile,  that  smile  has  not  been  sardonic.  In 
addition  to  the  other  qualities  of  Mr.  Bellew  for  which  he 
merits  high  praise,  I  should  not  omit  his  sincere  spirit  of  reli- 
gion. He  is  one  of  those  few  who  unite  with  the  creed  of  the 
Pharisee  the  sensibilities  of  the  Samaritan.  Mr.  Bellew  is  a 
devout  and  unostentatious  E-oman  Catholic,  deeply  convinced 
of  the  truth  of  his  religion,  and  most  rigorous  in  the  practice 
of  its  precepts.  The  only  requisite  which  he  wants  to  give 
him  a  complete  title  to  spiritual  perfection,  is  one  in  which 
some  of  his  learned  brethren  are  not  deficient ;  and  it  can  not 
be  said  that  he  "  has  given  joy  in  heaven,"  upon  the  principle 
on  which  so  many  barristers  have  the  opportunity  of  adminis- 
tering to  the  angelic  transports.  One  of  the  results  of  his 
having  been  always  equally  moral  and  abstemious  as  at  pres- 
ent is,  that  his  dedication  to  religion  attracts  no  notice.  If 
another  barrister  receives  the  sacrament,  it  is  bruited  through 
town ;  and  at  all  the  Catholic  parties,  the  ladies  describe, 
with  a  pious  minuteness,  the  collected  aspect,  the  combined 
expression  of  penitence  and  humility,  the  clasped  hands,  and 
the  uplifted  eyes  of  the  counsellors ;  while  the  devout  Mr. 
Bellew,  who  goes  through  the  same  sacred  exercise,  passes 
without  a  comment. 

In  truth,  I  should  not  myself  know  that  Mr.  Bellew  was  a 


MR.    EELLEW.  105 

man  of  sucli  strong  religious  addictions,  but  for  an  incident 
which  put  me  npoii  the  iiiqniiy.  Upon  Ash-Wednesday,  it  is 
the  practice  among  pious  Catholics  to  approach  the  altar ;  and 
while  he  repeats  in  a  solemn  tone,  ''Remember,  man,  that  thou 
art  dust,"  with  the  ashes  v/hich  he  carries  in  a  vase  the  priest 
impresses  the  foreheads  of  those  who  kneel  before  him  with 
the  sign  of  the  cross. 

Some  two  or  three  years  ago,  I  recollect  the  court  was  kept 
waiting  for  Mr.  Bellew,  and  the  Master  of  the  Rolls  began  to 
manifest  some  unusual  symptoms  of  impatience,  when  at  last 
Mr.  Bellew  entered,  having  just  come  from  his  devotions ;  and 
such  was  his  haste  from  chapel,  that  he  had  omitted  to  efface 
the  '■^memento  mori''^  from  his  brow.  The  countenance  of  this 
gentleman  is  in  itself  sufficiently  full  of  melancholy  reminis- 
cences ;  but  when  the  Master  of  the  Rolls,  raising  his  eyes 
from  a  notice  which  he  was  diligently  perusing,  looked  him 
full  in  the  face,  he  gave  an  involuntary  start.  The  intimatiojj 
of  judicial  astonishment  directed  the  general  attention  to  the 
advocate ;  and  traced  in  broad  sepulchral  lines,  formed  of 
ashes  of  ebony  in  the  very  centre  of  Mr.  Bellew's  forehead, 
and  surmounted  by  an  ample  and  fully-powdered  wig,  the 
black  and  appalling  emblem.  The  burning  cross  upon  the 
forehead  of  the  sorcerer,  in  "  The  Monk,"  could  not  have  pro- 
duced a  more  awful  effect.  The  Six  Clerks  stood  astonished ; 
the  Registrar  was  petrified ;  the  whiskers  of  Mr.  Daniel 
M'Kay,  the  Irish  Vice-Ghancellor,  stood  on  end;  and  while 
Mr.  Driscoll  explained  the  matter  to  Mr.  Sergeant  Lefroy,  Sir 
William  M'Mahon  with  some  abruptness  of  tone  declared  that 
he  would  not  go  beyond  the  motion.* 

*  Sir  William  M'Mahon,  appointed  Master  of  the  Rolls  in  Ireland,  through 
the  influence  of  his  brother,  Sir  John,  Private  Secretary  to  George  IV.  when 
Regent,  was  anything  but  a  lawyer.  Mr.  Shell's  first  wife  was  Miss  O'Hal/aron, 
niece  to  Sir  William.— M. 

9* 


MICHAEL   O'LOGHLIN. 

"  Counsellor  O'Loghlin,  my  motion  is  on,  in  the  Rolls !" 
"  Oh,  Counsellor,  I'm  ruined  for  the  want  of  you  in  the  Com- 
mon Pleas!"  "For  God's  sake,  Counsellor,  step  up  for  a 
moment  to  Master  Townsend's  office  !"  "  Counsellor,  what  will 
I  do  without  you  in  the  King's  Bench  !"  "  Counsellor  O'Logh- 
lin, Mr.  O'Grady  is  carrying  all  before  him  in  the  Court  of 
Exchequer  !"  Such  were  the  simultaneous  exclamations,  which, 
iipon  entering  the  Hall  of  the  Four  Courts,  at  the  beginning 
of  last  term,  I  heard  from  a  crowd  of  attorneys,  who  sur- 
rounded a  little  gentleman,  attired  in  a  wig  and  gown,  and 
were  clamorously  contending  for  his  professional  services, 
which  they  had  respectively  retained,  and  to  which,  from  the 
strenuousness  of  their  adjurations,  they  seemed  to  attach  the 
utmost  value. 

Mr.  O'Loghlin  stood  in  some  suspense  in  the  midst  of  this 
riotous  competition.  While  he  was  deliberating  to  which  of 
the  earnest  applicants  for  his  attendance  he  should  addict 
himself,  I  had  an  opportvmity  to  take  notes  of  him.  He  had 
at  first  view  a  very  juvenile  aspect.  His  figure  was  light — 
his  stature  low,  but  his  form  compact,  and  symmetrically  put 
together.  His  complexion  was  fresh  and  healthy,  and  inti- 
mated a  wise  acquaintance  with  the  morning  sun,  more  than  a 
familiarity  with  the  less  salubrious  glimmerings  of  the  midnight 
lamp.  His  hair  was  of  sanded  hue,  like  that  of  his  Danish 
forefathers,  from  whom  his  name,  which  in  Gaelic  signifies 
Denmark,  as  well  as  his  physiognomy,  intimates  his  descent. 
Although  at  first  he  appeared  to  have  just  passed  the  boun- 
d.aries  of  boyhood,  yet  upon  a  closer  inspection  all  symptoms 


BAB   ASSIZE   COSTUME.  107 

of  puerility  disappeared.  His  head  is  large,  and,  from  the 
breadth  and  altitude  of  the  forehead,  denotes  a  more  than 
ordinary  quantity  of  that  valuable  pulp,  with  the  abundance 
of  which  the  intellectual  power  is  said  to  be  in  measure.  His 
large  eyes  of  deep  blue,  although  not  enlightend  by  the  flash- 
ings of  constitutional  vivacity,  carry  a  more  professional  ex- 
pression, and  bespeak  caution,  sagacity,  and  slyness,  while  his 
mouth  exhibits  a  steadfast  kindliness  of  nature,  and  a  tran- 
quillity of  temper,  mixed  with  some  love  of  ridicule,  and, 
although  perfectly  free  from  malevolence,  a  lurking  tendency 
to  derision.*  An  enormous  bag,  pregnant  with  briefs,  was 
thrown  over  his  shoulder.  To  this  prodigious  wallet  of  litiga- 
tion on  his  back,  his  person  presented  a  curious  contrast. 

At  the  moment  I  surveyed  him,  he  was  surrounded  by  an 
aggregate  meeting  of  attorneys,  each  of  whom  claimed  a  title 
paramount  to  '*  the  Counsellor,"  and  vehemently  enforced  their 
respective  rights  to  his  exclusive  appropriation.  He  seemed 
to  be  at  a  loss  to  determine  to  which  of  these  amiable  expos- 
tulators'his  predilections  ought  to  be  given.  I  thought  that 
he  chiefly  hesitated  between  Mr.  B.ichard  Scott,  the  protector 

*  Mr.  O'Loghlin's  appearance  was  very  distinguished.  He  had  clear  blue 
eyes,  which  almost  seemed  to  smile,  if  I  may  so  express  it.  His  light  hair 
curled  closely  and  crisply  on  a  head  which  was  beautifully  set  upon  his  should- 
ers. His  figure  was  compact  and  light,  and,  as  much  as  any  one  whom  I  rec- 
ollect on  the  Munster  Circuit,  his  neatness  of  attire  evidenced  that  he  cultivated 
the  graces.  In  those  days,  barristers  wore  neither  wigs  nor  gowns  in  the 
Assize  Courts,  on  circuit,  and  thus  every  one  could  notice  their  "  human  face 
divine,"  without  the  professional  accompaniments  which  so  much  change  its 
expression.  Mr.  O'Connell  very  frequently  wore  a  green  sporting  jacket,  in 
the  Assize  Court  —  but  his  usual  attire  was  the  "customary  suit  of  solemn 
black."  He  was  careful,  and  rather  felicitous,  in  the  tie  of  his  white  cravat, 
but,  when  he  warmed  in  a  speech,  he  used  to  seize  this  article  of  his  dress  and 
pull  it  on  one  side  or  the  other,  occasionally  varying  the  action,  by  twitching 
his  black  wig  from  right  to  left,  and  back  again,  as  if  to  adjust  it  properly  on 
his  head. —  Mr.  Wolfe,  who  subsequently  became  Chief  Baron  of  the  Excheq- 
uer, presented  a  marked  contrast  to  O'Loghlin  and  O'Connell.  He  was  care- 
less in  his  attire,  wore  his  garments  as  if  he  never  had  consulted. a  mirror,  and 
had  a  habit  of  thrusting  his  long  hands  through  his  dark  hair.  He  was  tall  in 
stature,  awkward  and  angular  in  his  movements,  and  swarthy  in  complexion. 
His  voice,  like  that  of  most  Irish  banisters,  was  clear  and  strong  ;  his  utterance 
good;  and  his  occasional  emphacising  very  effective  with  juries. — M. 


108  MICHAEL    o'lOGHLTN. 

of  the  subject  in  Eiinis,  and  Mr.  Edward  Hickman,  tlie  patron 
of  the  crown,  upon  tlie  Connaught  circuit.  Ned,  a  loyalist  of 
tlie  brightest  water,  had  hold  of  him  b}^  one  shoulder,  while 
Dick,  a  patriot  of  the  first  magnitude,  laid  his  gi-asp  upon  the 
other.  Between  their  rival  attractions,  Mr.  O'Loghlin  stood 
with  a  look,  which,  so  far  from  intimating  that  either  of  "  the 
two  charmers"  should  be  away,  expressed  regret  at  his  inabil- 
ity to  apportion  himself  between  these  fascinating  disputants 
for  his  favors.  Mr.  Scott,  whose  countenance  was  inflamed 
with  anxiety  for  the  numerous  clients,  exhibited  great  vehe- 
mence and  emotion.  His  meteoric  hair  stood  up,  his  quick 
and  eager  eye  was  on  fire,  the  indentations  upon  his  forehead 
were  filled  with  perspiration,  and  the  whole  of  his  strongly 
Celtic  visage  was  moved  by  that  honorable  earnestness,  which 
arises  from  a  solicitude  for  the  interest  of  those  who  intrust 
their  fortunes  to  his  care.  Ned  Hickman,  whose  countenance 
never  relinquishes  the  expression  of  mixed  finesse  and  drol- 
lery for  which  it  is  remarkable,  excepting  when  it  is  laid  doAvn 
for  an  air  of  profound  reverence  for  the  Attorney-General,  was 
amusingly  opposed  to  Mr.  Scott ;  for  Ned  holds  all  emotion  to 
be  vulgar,  and,  on  account  of  its  gentility,  hath  addicted  him- 
self to  self-control. 

Mr.  O'Loghlin,  as  I  have  intimated,  seemed  for  some  time 
to  waver  between  them,  but  at  length  Mr.  Hickman,  by  virtue 
of  a  whisper,  accompanied  by  a  look  of  official  sagacity  (for 
he  is  one  of  the  crown  solicitors),  prevailed,  and  was  carrying 
Mr.  O'Loghlin  off  in  triumph,  when  a  deep  and  rumbling  sound 
was  heard  to  issue  from  the  Court  of  Exchequer,  and  shortly 
after,  there  was  seen  descending  its  steps,  a  form  of  prodigious 
altitude  and  dimensions,  in  whose  masses  of  corpulency,  which 
were  piled  up  to  an  amazing  height,  I  recognised  no  less  emi- 
nent a  person  than  Bumbo  Green.*     He  came  like  an  ambula- 

■*'  The  individual  known  as  "  Bumbo"  Green,  was  well  known,  in  the  Irish 
law-Courts,  some  five-and-twenty  years  ago.  I  saw  him  once  —  and  to  see  was 
to  remember.  He  was  an  attorney  in  good  practice ;  hailing,  I  believe,  from 
the  west  of  Ireland.  He  knew  the  private  affairs  of  three  fourths  of  the  estated 
gentlemen  in  the  counties  of  Galway  and  Clare,  and  no  lawsuit  of  any  impor- 
tance was  entered  into,  in  that  part  of  the  world,  without  Mr.  Gieen  being  em- 


BUMBO    GREEN.  109 

tory  hill.  This  enormous  Leap  of  animation  approached  to 
put  in  his  claim  to  Mr.  O'Loghlin.  Bnmbo  had  an  action, 
which  was  to  be  tried  before  Chief  Baron  O'Grady  against 
the  proprietor  of  the  mail-coach  to  Ennis,  for  not  having 
provided  a  vehicle  large  enough  to  contain  him.  Mr.  O'Logh- 
lin was  to  state  his  case.  Bumbo  had  espied  the  capture 
which  Ned  Hickman  had  made  of  his  favorite  counsel.  It 
was  easy  to  perceive,  from  the  expression  of  resolute  sever- 
ity which  sat  upon  his  vast  and  angry  visage,  that  he  was  de- 
termined not  to  acquiesce  in  this  unwarrantable  proceeding. 
As  he  advanced,  Ned  Hickman  stood  appalled,  and,  conscious 
of  the  futility  of  remonstrance,  let  loose  the  hold  which  he 
had  upon  the  Counsellor,  while  the  latter,  with  that  involun- 
tary and  somewhat  reluctant,  but  inevitable  submission,  which 
is  instinctively  paid  to  great  by  little  men,  obeyed  the  nod 
of  his  enormous  employer,  and,  with  the  homage  which  the 
Attorney-General  for  Lilliput  might  be  supposed  to  entertain 
for  a  solicitor  from  Brobdignag,  passively  yielded  to  the  do- 
ployed,  on  one  side  or  the  other.  He  was  "  a  noticeable  man"  (to  use  Cole- 
ridge's phrase) — but  chiefly  on  account  of  his  immense  size.  The  great  Dan- 
iel Lambert  died  before  my  time,  so  that  I  can  not  personally  compare  him  with 
Bumbo  Green  ;  —  I  suspect  that  in  corporeal  extent  there  could  not  have  been 
much  difference.  Mr.  Green  was  the  biggest  man  I  ever  saw.  He  was  tall, 
but,  from  his  obesity,  appeared  below  the  ordinary  stature.  He  had  a  smiling, 
wimiing  manner,  and  was  liked,  for  his  good  temper  and  fun,  by  every  one.  To 
sec  him  attempt  to  sit  down  on  the  attorney's  narrow  bench  was  ludicrous  in 
the  extreme.  What  is  called  "  the  small  of  the  back"  he  was  not  possessor  of, 
and  therefore  to  rest  upon  a  naiTOW  seat  was  as  hopeless  a  task  for  him,  as  it 
would  have  been  for  a  cherub  —  but  from  quite  a  different  cause,  "Bumbo" 
Green  having  a  redundancy  of  what  cherubs  are  so  deficient  in,  that  it  is  evident 
they  never  can  sit  for  their  portraits !  Bumbo  Green  flourished  in  the  sjite- 
railway  era,  and,  on  a  journey,  had  to  occupy  and  pay  for  two  seats  in  the 
stage-coach.  On  one  occasion,  he  ordered  his  servant  to  take  two  seats  for 
liim  in  the  mail-coach  from  Ennis  to  Dublin.  The  man  executed  the  command, 
l)Ut,  being  a  rather  green  hand,  only  a  few  days  in  Green's  employment,  com- 
mitted a  trifling  mistake.  When  Bumbo  Green  went  to  the  coach-office,  he 
found  all  the  inside  seats  occupied,  except  one.  His  servant  not  knowing  his 
habit,  had  taken  the  seats  —  one  outside,  and  the  other  within!  —  Bumbo 
Green,  like  nearly  all  very  stout  men  whom  I  have  ever  known,  was  fond  of 
dancing,  and  danced  lightly  too.  He  had  a  great  many  good  quahties,  and 
the  perpetual  sunshine  of  good  temper  gleamed  bi-ightly  over  them  all. —  M. 


110  MICHAEL    o'lOGHLIN. 

minion,  and  followed  into  the  Exchequer  the  gigantic  waddlo 
of  Bumbo  Green. 

But  a  truce  to  merriment.  The  merits  of  Mr.  O'Loghlin, 
with  whom  I  open  this  continuation  of  the  Sketches  of  the 
Catholic  Bar,  are  of  a  character  which  demand  a  serious  and 
most  respectful  consideration.  He  is  not  of  considerable 
standing,  and  yet  is  in  the  receipt  of  an  immense  income, 
which  the  most  jealous  of  his  competitors  will  not  venture  to 
insinuate  that  he  does  not  deserve.  He  is  in  the  utmost 
demand  in  the  Hall  of  the  Four  Courts,  and  is  among  the  very 
best  of  the  commodities  which  are  to  be  had  in  that  staple  of 
the  mind.  He  is  admitted,  upon  all  hands,  to  be  an  excellent 
lawyer,  and  a  master  of  the  practice  of  the  courts,  which  is  of 
far  greater  importance  than  the  black  and  recondite  erudition, 
to  which  so  many  barristers  exclusively  devote  so  many  years 
of  unavailing  labor.  The  questions  to  which  deep  learning  is 
applicable  are  of  frequent  occurrence,  while  points  connected 
with  the  course  and  forms  of  legal  proceedings  arise  every 
day,  and  afford  to  a  barrister,  who  has  made  them  his  study, 
an  opportunity  of  rendering  himself  greatly  serviceable  to  his 
clients.  It  is  not  by  displays  of  research  upon  isolated  occa- 
sions, that  a  valuable  and  money-making  reputation  is  to  be 
established.  "  Practice,"  as  it  is  technically  called,  is  the 
alchemy  of  the  Bar.  When  it  is  once  ascertained  that  a  law- 
yer is  master  of  it,  he  becomes  the  main  resource  of  attorneys, 
who  depend  upon  him  for  their  guidance  through  the  mazes 
of  every  intricate  and  complicated  case.  Mr.  O'Loghlin  has 
Tidd  at  his  fingers'  ends,  and  is,  besides,  minutely  acquainted 
with  that  unwritten  and  traditional  practice  which  governs 
Irish  justice  ;  and  which,  not  having  been  committed  to  books, 
is  acquired  by  an  unremitting  attention  to  what  is  going  on  in 
court.* 

*  Mention  has  been  made,  in  a  previous  note,  of  the  rates  of  payment  to  the 
judges,  varying-  from  eight  hundred  to  one  thousand  pounds  sterling  a  year 
(the  salaries  of  Irish  Assistant-Barristers,  Scottish  Sheriffs,  and  English  County 
Court  Judges),  to  ten  thousand  pounds  sterling  per  annum,  the  amount  fixed, 
by  Act  of  Parliament,  as  the  Lord-Chancellor's  official  income.  Those  who 
are  accustomed  to  the  present  very  small  remvmeration  allowed  to  the  occu- 
pants of  judicial  seata  in  the  United  States  may  consider  the  British  payment 


BRITISH    SYSTEM   OF  JUDIOATUKE.  Ill 

It  is  not  to  be  considered,  from  the  praise  bestowed  upon 
Mr.  O'Loghlin  in  this  most  useful  department  of  his  profession, 
that  he  does  not  possess  other  and  very  superior  qualifications. 

as  exti-avagant  —  especially,  as  the  offices  (with  the  exception  of  the  Chancel- 
lorship, which  is  political  as  well  as  legal)  are  held  for  life,  or  during  good  be- 
havior, which  is  the  same.  Added  to  this  is  the  system  of  granting  pensions 
or  retiring  allowances  to  the  judges  —  amounting  to  nearly  two  thirds  of  their 
annual  salaries  —  after  fifteen  years'  service  or  in  the  event  of  earlier  retire- 
ment from  ill  health.  The  British  plan  is  based  upon  a  very  broad  principle  — 
namely,  that  of  tempting  the  very  best  lawyers  to  become  judges,  by  making  it 
worth  their  while  to  surrender  the  great  incomes  which  they  can  earn  at  the 
bar.  In  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  a  lawyer  in  full  practice  may  earn  from 
three  thousand  to  twelve  thousand  pounds  sterling  per  annum  —  some  have  ob- 
tained more.  To  tempt  any  of  these  men,  in  the  prime  of  life  and  the  fullness 
of  profitable  labor,  to  assume  the  ermine  of  the  judge  instead  of  the  gown  of 
the  barrister,  there  are  three  or  four  conjunct  inducements.  There  is  a  peiTna- 
nent  station  of  honorable  rank  secured  to  him  who  becomes  a  judge.  There  is 
a  certain  income,  which,  though  far  lower  than  he  may  have  previously  earned, 
is  obtained  in  compai'ative  ease  and  repose.  There  is  the  removal  of  all  doubt 
as  to  the  future  —  for  a  failure  of  health  may  assail  the  most  active  lawyer,  and 
speedily  incapacitate  him  from  future  exertion,  whei'eas,  when  a  judge,  he  may 
retire  after  a  certain  length  of  public  service,  provided  for,  during  the  residue 
of  life,  by  the  bountiful  gratitude  of  the  public,  which  also  provides  for  his  fu- 
ture, in  case  of  his  health  breaking  up.  On  the  bench,  it  is  true,  a  lawyer  does 
not  wholly  enjoy  "  otium  cum  dignitate,"  —  for  the  judge,  if  he  do  his  duty, 
has  no  sinecure.  But  he  is  removed  fi-om  the  cares,  the  bustle,  the  sti-uggles, 
which  are  inseparable  from  the  active  life  of  a  busy  lawyer,  and  which  form 
the  wear  and  tear  of  his  mind,  and  he  assumes  a  position  of  dignified  and  hon- 
orable labor,  in  the  discharge  of  duties  more  important  than  those  of  an  advo- 
cate, while  they  are  of  a  different  and  less  mind-oppressing  order.  A  seat 
upon  the  judicial  bench,  therefore,  is  the  object  of  a  British  lawyer's  honoi^able 
ambition,  for  which  he  strives  and  competes  —  not  by  linking  himself  with  any 
political  party,  not  by  descending  to  canvassing  or  solicitation,  but  by  knowl- 
edge of  the  laws,  by  industry,  and  by  unimpeachable  conduct.  These  judicial 
appointments  are  virtually  held  for  life,  because  the  becoming  entitled  to  a 
pension  after  fifteen  years'  service,  does  not  necessarily  cause  a  judg^  to  retire 
at  the  expiration  of  that  period.  For  the  most  part,  we  find  the  judges  con- 
tinuing in  office  to  the  end.  Of  late  years  there  have  been  only  tAvo  retirements  — 
Erskine  (son  of  the  Chancellor)  from  ill  health,  and,  more  recently,  Patteson, 
from  deafness.  It  is  to  the  ci-edit  of  Geoi-ge  III.  (who  had  the  good  sense, 
amid  much  obtuseness,  sometimes  to  take  adAnce)  to  commence  his  reign,  in  1760 
by  recommending  Parliament  to  enact  that  the  judges  should  not  be  removable,  as 
before,  by  the  demise  of  the  Sovereign  cancelling  their  Commissions.  It  had 
been  the  custom  to  issue  new  Commissions,  in  such  cases,  and  then  a  judge 
who  had  rendered  himself  obnoxious  by  independence,  might  be  displaced,  a«i 


112  MICHAEL   o'lOGHLIN". 

He  is  familiar  witli  every  branch  of  the  law,  and  has  his 
knowledge  always  at  command.  There  are  many  whose 
learning'  lies  in  their  minds,  like  treasure  in  rusty  coffers  which 
it  is  a  toil  to  open,  or  masses  of  bullion  in  the  vaults  of  the 
Bank  of  Ireland,  unfit  for  the  purposes  of  exchange,  and  diffi- 
cult to  be  put  into  circulation.  Mr.  O'Loghlin  bears  his  wealth 
about  him  —  he  can  immediately  apply  it — and  carries  his 
faculties  like  coined  money,  "  in  numerato  TiahetP  He  is  not 
a  maker  of  sentences,  and  does  not  impress  his  phrases  on  the 
memory  of  his  hearers;  but  he  has  Avhat  is  far  better  than 
what  is  vulgarly  designated  as  eloquence.  He  is  perfectly 
fluent,  easy,  and  natural.  His  thoughts  run  in  a  smooth  and 
clear  current,  and  his  diction  is  their  appropriate  channel. 
His  perceptions  are  exceedingly  quick,  and  his  utterance  is, 
therefore,  occasionally  rapid  ;  but,  although  he  speaks  at  times 
with  velocity,  he  never  does  so  with  precipitation.  He  is 
extremely   brfef,   and    indulges    in   no   useless   amplification. 

matter  of  routine,  on  the  accession  of  a  new  sovereign.  The  result  has  been 
that,  since  this  independence  has  thus  been  established,  we  have  had  some  re- 
markable instances  where  a  judge  has  acted  directly  in  opposition  to  the  desires 
and  interests  of  the  Government.  For  example,  Lord  Camden  (when  Chief 
Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas,  in  1763)  decided  that  the  Secretary  of  State  had 
acted  illegally,  in  arresting  John  Wilkes,  on  a  general  wan-ant — which  ought 
not  to  be  issued  except  in  the  urgent  case  of  high  treason.  So,  a  few  years  ago, 
Lord  Chief  Justice  Denman's  denial,  as  a  constitutional  lawyer  {in  re  Stock- 
dale  V.  Howard)  that  either  House  of  Parliament  had  a  right  to  publish  libels, 
as  part  of  their  proceedings,  and  to  authorize  their  public  sale.  Li  England,  there 
are  few  instances  of  a  judge  soiling  his  ermine  by  ti'uckling  to  Power.  I  i-ec- 
oUect  only  two  instances  in  my  own  time.  Once,  on  the  trial  of  William  Hone 
for  publishing  parodies  on  parts  of  the  Bible  (his  real  offence  being  that  he 
had  ridiculed  the  Prince  Regent)  when  Lord  Ellenborough  actually  desired  the 
juj-y  to  bring  in  a  verdict  of  guilty,  which  they  declined  doing.  The  other, 
during  the  trial  of  the  Chartist  rioters,  when  Lord  Abinger,  who  tried  the  case, 
acted  more  like  the  prosecuting  counsel  than  the  judge,  and  I'oundly  abused 
the  prisoners  on  account  of  their  politics.  But  in  L'eland,  where  there  are 
corrupt  sheriffs  and  packed  juries,  partisan  judges  have  not  been  so  rf^re. 
That  class  did  not  cease  with  Lord  Norbury:  it  still  exists.  In  questions  be- 
tween man  and  man,  the  bulk  of  the  Irish  judges  have  shown  praiseworthy  im- 
partiality. When  it  was  the  Government  against  the  subject,  the  case  some- 
times became  different.  The  State  Trials  of  1844  and  1848,  were  conducted 
in  a  manner  which  reminded  us  of  1798,  and  which  would  have  almost  driveo 
England  into  insurrection,  had  it  occurred  there. —  M. 


STANDISH   o'gEADY.  113 

There  is  not  the  smallest  trace  of  affectation  in  anything 
which  he  either  does  or  says ;  and  it  is  surprising  with  what 
little  appearance  of  exertion  he  brings  all  the  powers  of  liia 
mind  into  play.  His  points  are  put  with  so  much  brevity,  sim- 
plicity, and  clearness,  that  he  has,  of  necessity,  become  a  great 
favorite  with  the  Judges,  who  give  him  a  willing  audience, 
because  he  is  sure  to  be  pertinent  and  short ;  and  having  said 
all  that  is  fitting  to  be  said,  and  no  more,  has  immediately 
done.  He  is  listened  to  the  more  readily,  because  he  is  appa- 
rently frank  and  artless ;  but  he  merely  puts  on  a  show  of 
candor,  for  few  possess  more  suppleness  and  craft. 

No  man  adapts  himself  with  more  felicity  to  the  humors  and 
the  predispositions  of  the  judges. whom  he  addresses.  Take, 
for  example,  the  Exchequer,  wliere,  both  on  the  law  and  equity 
sides  of  the  court,  he  is  in  immense  business.  He  appeals  to 
the  powerful  understanding,  and  sheer  common-sense,  of 
Standish    O'Grady,*    in    whom   E,hadamanthus    and    Sancho 

*  Of  Standish  O'Grady,  Chief-Baron  of  the  Irish  Exchequer,  from  1803  to 
1831,  a  notice  has  akeady  been  given  (vol  i.,  p.  135),  but  an  anecdote  can 
scarcely  be  out  of  place  here.  He  had  a  caustic  wit,  which  was  the  more 
keen  because  ever  unobtrusive.  The  quiet  manner  in  which  the  Chief-Baron 
would  insult  a  man,  barbed  the  shaft.  For  example,  a  certain  Mr.  Burke 
Bethell  was  at  the  Irish  bar.  He  had  ability,  learning,  eloquence,  and  indus- 
ti-y,  but  was  one  of  the  men  who  appeared  as  if  bom  under  an  evil  star,  and 
never  could  get  on.  It  was  stated,  and  believed,  that  he  took  business  at  any 
rate  —  that  is,  he  would  initial  a  brief  marked  two,  five,  or  ten  guineas,  as  if 
he  had  received  that  amount  (for  without  such  proof  of  payment  the  taxing- 
master  would  strike  the  item  out  of  the  attorney's  bill  of  costs),  and  accept  a 
fourth  of  the-nominal  sum.  This  had  reached  the  ears  of  O'Grady,  who  had 
never  known  the  want  of  money,  and  had  a  lofty  idea  of  what  is  called  "  the 
dignity  of  the  profession."  On  one  occasion,  Burke  Bethell  had  the  luck,  by 
some  accident,  to  receive  a  brief  in  some  small  case  in  which  the  Crown  was 
seeking  penalties,  under  the  Excise  laws,  firom  some  fiscal  delinquent.  The 
Court  of  Exchequer  was  the  tribunal  before  which  the  case  was  to  be  tried, 
Bethell,  determined  to  cut  a  figure,  had  somewhat  Adonized  his  attire,  and 
presented  himself  before  the  Chief-Bai-on,  who,  affecting  not  to  recognise  him 
(wearing  the  unusual  disguise  of  a  clean  shirt),  surveyed  him  through  his  eye- 
glass, and,  stooping  down,  asked  who  the  gentleman  was  —  with  an  air  like  that 
which  Brummell  must  have  worn  when  he  asked  his  companion,  who  stopped 
to  speak  to  George  IV.,  "Who  is  your  fiit  friend  ?"  —  Bethel,  with  an  air  of 
great  importance,  thus  commenced :  "  My  Lord,  on  this  occasion,  I  have  the 
honor  to  appear  for  the  Crown."     The  Chief-Baron^  interrupting  him,  in  hia 


114  MICHAEL   o'lOGIILIN. 

Panza  seem  combined.  He  liits  the  metaphysical  propensi- 
ties of  Baron  Smith,*  with   a  distinction,  in  which   it  would 

blandest  manner,  and  with  his  sweetest  smile,  interjected,  "  And,  sometimes, 
I  believe,  Mr.  'Beth.ell,  for  the  half-crown  !'^  —  On  the  subject  of  taking  less 
than  the  regulation  fee  or  honorarium,  I  recDllect  an  illustration  or  two.  Fitz- 
gibbon,  father  of  Lord-Chancellor  Clare,  was  a  lawyer  in  good  practice,  and 
very  fond  of  money.  A  client  once  brought  him  a  brief  and  fee,  that  he  might 
personally  apologize  for  the  smallness  of  the  latter.  Fitzgibbon,  muttering  that 
they  should  have  intermediately  reached  h'.m  through  the  hands  of  an  attorney, 
took  both — but  looked  most  gloomily  on  the  very  limited  amount  of  the  fee.  The 
client  sorrowfully  admitted  the  cause  for  discontent,  but  added,  that  it  was  "  all 
he  had  in  the  world."  —  "Well,  then,"  said  Fitzgibbon,  "as  that's  the  case, 
and  you  have  no  more,  why,  I  must  —  take  it.^^  Which  he  did,  no  doubt. — To 
match  this,  there  is  an  anecdote  of  a  certain  Mr.  Sergeant  Cockle,  of  the  Eng- 
lish bar,  who  was  accused  of  the  grave  offence  of  having  taken  a  half  fee,  and 
even  of  having  accepted  part  of  the  money  in  the  copper  coin  of  the  realm. 
The  chai'ge  duly  came  before  the  bar-mess  for  adjudication,  and  was  fully  sus- 
tained by  evidence.  In  defence.  Cockle  briefly  said:  "It  is  quite  true  that  I 
took  half  a  guinea,  where  the  fee  should  have  been  a  guinea,  and  that  it  was 
made  up  of  a  crown-piece,  four  shillings,  two  sixpences,  and  sixpence  in  cop- 
per." There  was  a  great  sensation  on  this  confession  of  the  charge.  But 
Cockle  went  on :  "  But,  gentlemen,  before  I  took  the  money,  I  ascertained  it 
was  the  last  farthing  the  poor  devil  had,  and  I  appeal  to  the  honorable  profes- 
sion, whether,  under  such  circumstances,  taking  his  last  penny  from  him,  I  was 
not  quite  justified,  and  have  maintained  the  character  of  the  bar?"  It  was 
unanimously  agreed  that  he  had  done  all  that  a  lawyer  could  do,  in  such  a 
case,  and,  honorably  acquitting  Cockle,  the  bar-mess  inflicted  the  fine  of  a 
basket  of  claret  upon  his  accuser — the  grand  rule  at  all  mess-trials  being  that 
somebody  must  be  mulcted  in  the  generous  juice  of  the  grape  !  —  How  different 
is  this  merely  professional  acquisitiveness  from  the  generous  feeling  of  the 
sailor  at  Gibraltar,  during  the  early  and  warlike  years  of  the  present  century. 
Landing  at  "the  Rock,"  with  his  comrades,  all  agreed,  havin'g  plenty  of 
money,  that  it  would  be  suitable  and  creditable  for  each  to  purchase  a  gold- 
laced  cocked-hat.  On  reassembling  at  night,  one  man  had  a  silver-laced  hat 
and  was  immediately  denounced  (with  a  promise  of  early  cobbing,  when  they 
were  on  board)  as  a  shabby  fellow.  His  protest  had  all  the  energy  of  truth. 
"  Messmates,"  said  he,  "  I  scorn  the  charge.  When  I  went  to  the  man  who 
sells  the  gold-lacers,  I  found  that  he  had  not  one  left.  So,  I  took  this  silver- 
lacer,  but  paid  him  for  it  all  as  one  as  if  Hioere  gold.''''  Of  course.  Jack  was 
honorably  acquitted.  —  M. 

*  Sir  William  Cusack  Smith,  one  of  the  Barons  of  the  Exchequer  in  Ireland, 
was  a  remarkable  man.  He  was  born  in  January,  1766,  and  died  in  August, 
1836,  in  his  seventy-first  year.  His  father.  Sir  Michael  Smith,  was  a  great 
lawyer,  and  finally  became  Master  of  the  Rolls.  The  younger  Smith  studied 
at  Oxford,  and  there  obtained  the  friendship  of  Edmund  Burke,  at   whose 


SIR  W.    0.   SMITH.  115 

have  puzzled  St.  Thomas  Aquinas,  without  the  aid  of  inspira- 
tion, to  detect  a  difference :  when  every  other  argument  has 
failed  with  Baron  M'Oleland,  he  tips  him  the  wink,  and  point- 
country-house,  in  a  neighboring  county,  he  passed  all  his  leisure.  In  1788,  he 
was  called  to  the  Irish  bar,  and  soon  after  became  Doctor  of  Civil  Law,  to 
qualify  him  for  practice  in  the  Ecclesiastical  Courts.  In  1795,  Mr.  William 
Smith  was  made  king's  counsel,  and  entered  Parliament  in  the  same  year.  He 
strenuously  supported  the  Union,  not  only  by  his  votes  and  speeches,  but  as  a 
pamphleteer.  In  1800,  he  was  made  Solicitor-General,  and  in  1802,  when  his 
father,  who  then  was  a  puisne  Baron  of  the  Exchequer,  was  raised  to  the  higher 
dignity  of  Master  of  the  Rolls  (the  second  equity  Judge  in  Ireland,  and  not 
removable  as  the  Chancellor  is,  on  a  change  of  ministiy),  the  younger  Smith 
>  succeeded  him.  In  1808,  by  his  father's  death,  he  succeeded  to  the  baronetcy. 
Sir  William  Smith,  who  had  studied  in  the  school  of  Burke,  was  what  is  called 
"  an  old  whig,"  and  strongly  advocated  the  justice  and  policy  of  Catholic 
Emancipation.  When  this  was  granted,  and  the  Repeal  agitation  followed, 
Sir  William  Smith  denounced  it  as  impolitic,  ungrateful,  and  illegal.  Up  to 
that  time,  he  had  been  in  high  favor  with  the  Catholic  leaders.  But,  in  Feb- 
ruaiy,  1834,  Mr.  O'Connell  moved  that  the  House  of  Commons  should  appoint 
a  Committee  to  inquire  into  Sir  William  Smith's  judicial  conduct — mainly 
complaining  that,  in  his  charges  to  grand-juries  at  the  Assizes,  he  largely  in- 
troduced political  subjects,  and  that  his  habits  were  singularly  at  variance  with 
what  ought  to  be  the  habits  of  a  judge.  It  was' stated  by  Mr.  O'Connell  (and 
not  denied)  that  Baron  Smith  commonly  came  into  the  Court  about  half-past 
twelve  at  noon  —  that  he  thus  delayed  the  despatch  of  business  —  that,  at  Ai'- 
magh,  he  had  tried  fourteen  prisoners  between  six  o'clock  in  the  evening  and 
six  in  the  morning  —  that  one  of  these  trials  had  actually  commenced  long 
after  midnight,  and  that  his  whole  course  was  irregular.  This  prima-facie  case 
against  Baron  Smith  was  so  strong,  that  (the  whig  ministry  siding  with  Mr. 
O'Connell)  the  motion  for  inquiry  was  carried  by  a  majority  of  167  to  74..  A 
week  after,  however,  Mr.  Peel  and  his  party  reopened  the  question,  defended 
Baron  Smith,  accused  O'Connell  of  personal  and  vindictive  motives,  and  pro- 
posed that  the  vote  for  inquii-y  be  rescinded  —  which  was  done,  by  a  majority 
of  165  to  159.  There  is  no  doubt  that  Baron  Smith's  habits  had  latterly  be- 
come very  eccentric.  As  a  judge  he  was  impartial,  and  was  humane  even  to 
a  fault.  He  had  a  horror  of  sentencing  a  culprit  to  death,  and  "  leant  to  mer- 
cy's side"  on  the  trial  of  all  capital  offences.  He  was  attached  to  letters,  and 
published  several  pamphlets,  chiefly  on  politics,  which  are  forgotten.  He  also 
was  author  of  an  examination  of  the  Hohenloe  miracles.  The  only  work  by 
which  he  is  likely  to  be  remembered  as  an  author,  is  a  singular  production 
called  "  Metaphysical  Rambles."  —  His  second  son,  Thomas  Beny  Cusack 
Smith,  Attorney-General  under  the  Peel  administiation,  conducted  the  O'Con- 
nell State  Trials  in  1844.  He  is  now  (1854)  Master  of  the  Rolls,  as  his  grand- 
father was,  and  completes  the  singulai-  instance  of  three  out  of  one  family  having 
successively  woi-n  the  ermine.  —  M. 


116  MICHAEL    oV.onHLTN. 

ing  with  his  thumb  to  the  opposite  attorney,  suggests  the 
merits  of  the  client,  by  a  pantomimic  reference  to  those  of  his 
representative;  and  with  the  same  spirit  of  exquisite  adapta- 
tion, pkmges  into  the  darkest  abysses  of  black-letter  erudition 
with  Baron  Pennefather,  and  provokes  his  Lordship  into  a 
citation  from  the  Year-books  (which  excruciates  the  ears  of  Mr. 
Furlong)  in  Tipperary  French. 

Mr.  O'Loghlin  is  a  native  of  Clare.*  I  had  at  first,  and 
before  I  had  made  more  minute  inquiries,  conjectured,  from 
the  omega  in  his  name,  that  he  must  be  lineally  descended 
from  some  of  the  ancient  monarchs  of  Ireland,  or  be  at  least 
collaterally  connected  with  one  of  the  Phenician  dynasties. 
Upon  investigation,  however,  I  discovered  that  **  the  big  0,'* 
the  celebrated  object  of  royal  antipathy,  was  but  a  modern  an- 
nexation ;  and  that,  as  I  have  already  intimated,  Mr.  O'Loghlin 

*  The  late  Sir  Michael  O'Loghlin,  it  is  scarcely  too  much  to  say,  was  one  of 
the  best  judges  that  Ireland  ever  possessed.  Able,  acute,  cleai'-headed,  and 
thoroughly  just,  he  towered  above  his  fellows.  He  Mas  born  in  October,  1789, 
and  though  he  had  immense  practice  at  the  bar,  was  excluded  by  his  religion 
(he  was  a  Catholic)  from  obtaining  professional  prefeiment  qs  early  as  he  de- 
served it.  When  the  liberals  came  into  power,  after  the  granting  of  Emanci- 
pation, his  talents  obtained  due  recognition.  He  was  made  third  Sergeant  in 
1831;  second  Sergeant  in  1832;  Solicitor-General  in  1834;  Attorney-Gen- 
eral in  1835  ;  and  was  made  one  of  the  Barons  of  the  Exchequer  in  1836  — 
being,  I  think,  the  first  Catholic  judge  for  one  hundred  and  fifty  years.  On 
the  Bench  he  maintained  and,  if  possible,  increased  the  reputation  he  had  won 
at  the  bar.  All  paities  and  all  creeds  honored  and  respected  the  upright  judge, 
and  the  urbane  and  accomplished  gentleman.  There  was  a  general  feeling  of 
gratification,  at  the  bar,  and  among  the  public,  when,  in  1837,  he  was  liaised  to 
the  dignity  of  Master  of  the  Rolls.  In  this  capacity,  he  showed  the  great  grasp 
of  his  mind,  for,  though  his  bar-practice  had  chiefly  been  at  common  law,  his 
decisions  in  equity  were  inrefi'agable.  In  183S,  he  was  created  a  Baronet.  Sir 
Michael  O'Loghlin  died,  September,  1842,  aged  fifty-three.  The  legal  profes- 
sion of  Ireland,  who  knew  his  value,  raised  a  large  sum  for  the  purpose  of  erect- 
ing a  monument  to  perpetuate  their  sense  of  his  worth.  It  has  been  erected, 
and  consists  of  his  statue,  by  M'Dowall  (an  Irish  artist),  which  is  appropriately 
placed  in  the  Hall  of  the  Four  Courts,  Dublin  —  the  only  other  statue  in  that 
suitable  situation  being  one  of  Justice,  toward  which  it  looks.  —  Sir  Coleman 
O'Loghlin,  educated  at  London  University,  and  called  to  the  Irish  bar  in  1840, 
is  eldest  son  of  the  late  Master  of  the  Rolls,  and  has  already  obtained  a  high 
reputation.  He  was  employed  for  the  defence,  in  the  State  Trials  of  1844  and 
1848,  and  acquitted  himself  with  great  distinction. —  M. 


HIS   DANISH    ANCESTOR.  117 

is  of  a  Danish  origin.     It  lias  often  been  observed  that  the 
face  of  some  remote  progenitor  reappears,  after  the  lapse  of 
centuries,  in  his  progeny  ;  and  in  walking  through  the  halls 
of  ancient  families,  it  is  surprising  sometimes  to  see,  in  the 
little  boy  who  whips  his  top  beside  you,  a  transcript  of  some 
old  warrior  who  frowns  in  armor  on  the  mouldering  canvass 
above  your  head.     There  is  preserved  among  the  O'Loghlins 
a  picture  of  their  ancestor.     He  was  a  captain  in  the  Danish 
navy.     The  likeness  of  this  able  cruiser  off  the  Irish  coast  to 
the  Counsellor  is  wonderful.     He  was  a  small,  square,  com- 
pact, and  active  little  fellow,  with  great  shrewdness  and  intel- 
ligence of  expression.     Domestic  tradition  has  preserved  some 
traits  of  his  character,  which  show  that  the  mind,  as  well  as 
the  face,  can  be  preserved  during  ages  of  unimpaired  trans- 
mission to  the  last.     He  was  remarkable  for  his  skill  as  a 
navigator.     Not  a  pilot  in  all  Denmark  worked  a  ship  better. 
He  sent  his  light  and  quick-sailing  galley  through  the  most 
intricate  quicksands.     His  coolness  and  self-possession  never 
deserted  him,  and  in  the  worst  weather  he  was  sure  to  get  into 
port.     He  generally  kept  close  to  the  shore,  and  seldom  sailed 
upon  desperate  adventui'es.     Remarkable  for  his  talent  in  sur- 
prising the  enemy,  and  stealing  into  their  creeks  and  harbors, 
he  would  unexpectedly  assail  them,  and  carry  some  rich  prize 
away.     The  descendant  of  this  eminent  cruiser  works  a  cause 
upon  the  same  principles  as  his  ancestor  commanded  a  ship. 
He  holds  the  helm  with  a  steady  and  skilful  hand,  and  shifts 
his  sails  Avitli  the  nicest  adaptation  to  every  veering  circum- 
stance that  occurs  in  his  course.     Sometimes,  indeed,  he  goes 
very  close  to  the  wind,  but  never  misses  stays.     I  scarcely 
ever  saw  him  aground.     He  hits  his  adversary  between  wind 
and  water,  and,  when  he  lies  most  secure,  sails  into  his  anchor- 
age, boards,  and  cuts  him  out.     It  is  not,  therefore,  to  be  won- 
dered at,  that  he  is  in  as  great  practice  in  the  Hall  as  his  fore- 
father was  upon  the  ocean,  of  whom  it  is  recorded  that  he  — 

"  Pursued  o'er  the  high,  seas,  his  watery  journey, 
And  merely  practised  as  a  sea-attorney." 


FRANCIS    BLACKBURNE. 

I  AM  one  of  those  whose  political  information  is  derived 
from  a  perusal  of  "The  Weekly  Register,"*  through  the  ample 
columns  of  which  I  disport  myself  upon  Saturday  evening, 
and  refresh  myself  with  news  much  older  than  the  beverage 
with  which  I  raise  my  spirit  to  the  proper  pitch  of  patriotism, 
in  order  to  wash  down  the  eloquence  of  the  Catholic  Associa- 
tion. While  others  busy  themselves  in  political  anticipations, 
and  leave  Time  panting  and  toiling  after  them,  I  follow  him 
at  a  distance,  and  am  contented  if,  upon  the  eve  of  the  Sab- 
bath, I  can  collect  enough  of  news  to  join  in  the  discussions 
of  divers  Popish  counsellors,  who  assemble  at  half  past  one 
o'clock  to  offer  their  devotions  to  "  our  Lady  of  Carmel,"  under 
the  auspices  of  Mr.  L'Estrange,  in  the  avenues  of  Clarendon- 
street  Chapel.  In  this  sacred  spot,  just  after  benediction,  one 
may  observe  a  certain  convocation  of  politic  lawyers  with 
huge  prayer-books,  bound  in  green  morocco,  under  their  arms. 
After  years  of  hebdomadal  employment,  the  golden  pages  of 
these  holy  volumes  look  as  bright  and  fresh  as  when  tliey 
issued  from  the  burnishing  hands  of  the  bookseller  to  May- 
nooth  College,  and  bear  evidence  of  the  care  which  the  pious 

*'  A  newspaper  of  great  influence  in  those  days  (1827)  and  for  twenty  years 
after.  It  sided  with  Mr.  O'Connell  through  the  great  struggle  for  Emancipa- 
tion, and  the  various  efforts  to  obtain  Repeal,  by  means  of  a  Pai'liamentary 
enactment.  When  Mr.  Duffy,  in  The  Nation,  and  Mr.  John  Mitchel,  in  The 
United  Irishman,  advocated  the  bolder  policy  of  force  (argument  having  whol- 
ly failed)  the  Weekly  Register,  which  was  opposed  to  physical  force,  fell  to  the 
ground. —  M. 


STEPHEN   WOLFE    AND    WOLFE   TONE.  119 

votaries  of  Themis  have  taken  not  to  profane  them  with  too 
frequent  an  application  of  their  forensic  fingers. 

But  this  is  parenthetically  observed  —  I  was  going  on  to 
say,  that  I  merely  prepared  myself  upon  Saturday  evening  to 
talk  over  the  memory  of  Lord  Wellesley  with  Mr.  Farrel ;  the 
lamentable  increase  of  crime  upon  the  Munster  circuit  with 
Mr.  Wolfe  ;*  sacerdotal  riots  at  Birr,  and  the  validity  of  ex- 
communication with  Mr.  Cruise  ;  and  the  recollections  of  Wolfe 
Tonet  with  Mr.  Shell.  Such  being  my  indifference  to  political 
events,  it  not  unfrequently  happens  that  a  great  incident  takes 
place  of  which  I  do  not  hear  until  after  its  more  immediate 
effects  upon  the  public  mind  have  subsided  —  until  after  Mr. 
O'Oonnell  has  ordered  a  gown  of  Irish  silk  in  the  Liberty  ; 
Mr.  Sergeant  Lefroy  has  sought  the  consolations  of  religion 

*  Stephen  Wolfe,  a  good  lawyer  and  a  liberal  man,  obtained  neither  notice 
nor  preferment  from  the  anti-liberal  Governments  preceding  the  grant  of  Eman- 
cipation. In  1834,  he  was  made  third  Sergeant :  Solicitor-General  in  1836, 
Attorney-General  in  1837,  and  Chief  Baron  of  the  Excheqxier  in  1838,  on  the 
death  of  Joy.  Mr.  Wolfe  eni-nestly  pressed  the  Government  to  appoint  Mr. 
Ponnefathcr,  as  fittest  for  this  post,  and  that  he  (Wolfe)  should  merely  take 
the  puisne  judgeship  to  be  vacated  by  the  promotion  of  Pennefathei'.  But  the 
Government,  whose  politics  differed  very  much  from  those  of  Mr.  Pennefather, 
declared  that,  under  no  circumstances,  would  they  consider  his  claims ;  where- 
upon Mr.  Wolfe  was  appointed  Chief  Baron.      He  died,  June,  1840. —  M. 

t  Theobold  Wolfe  Tone,  actual  founder  of  the  "  Society  of  United  Irishmen," 
was  born  in  1763 ;  called  to  the  bar  in  due  course ;  published  a  pamphlet 
against  British  mis-government  in  1790  ;  and  founded  the  above  society  in  1793. 
From  that  time, 

"  Per  varies  casus,  per  tot  discrimina  rerum," 
Tone  devoted  himself  to  negotiations  with  the  French  Government  to  send  men 
and  ai-ms  to  win  back  "  Ireland  for  the  Irish."  One  such  expedition,  under 
General  Hoche,  actually  sailed,  but  a  hurricane  dispersed  the  fleet  (consisting 
of  17  sail  of  the  line,  13  frigates,  «fec.,  with  14,000  soldiers,  and  40,000  stand 
of  arms,  besides  artillery)  before  it  could  reach  Bantiy  Bay,  in  the  south  of 
Ireland,  and  the  French  Government  declined  sending  another  large  expedi- 
tion. A  petty  armament  was  despatched,  but  beaten  in  a  contest  with  an  over- 
powering British  fleet.  Tone,  who  had  fought  bravely,  was  captured,  tried  by 
a  Court  Martial,  and  sentenced  to  be  hanged,  which  he  evaded  by  suicide. 
On  the  publication  of  Tone's  autobiography,  seven-and-twenty  years  after  his 
death.  Shell  attempted  "  to  point  a  [political]  moral"  from  it,  in  one  of  his 
Catholic  Association  Speeches,  and  was  prosecuted  for  it  by  Mr.  Plunket 
then  Attorney-General,  but  never  brought  to  trial. —  M. 


120  FKANCIS   BLACKBUKNE. 

in  the  College  chapel,  and  Mr.  Sergeant  Blackburne,  the  sub- 
ject of  the  present  article,  has  bitten  his  nails  to  the  roots  for 
having,  in  a  moment  of  weakness,  yielded  to  the  solicitations 
of  Master  Ellis,  and  allowed  himself  to  be  debauched  so  far 
from  his  characteristic  prudence  as  to  sign  the  anti-Oatholic 
petition. 

I  have  mentioned  this  habit  of  mine  in  order  to  account 
for  my  surprise  at  the  strange  appearance  which  was  exhibited 
not  very  long  ago  by  the  Hall  of  the  Four  Courts,  when  I  was 
struck  by  the  sudden  change  of  aspect  and  of  manner  which 
several  individuals  had,  in  the  course  of  a  few  hours,  under- 
gone. Had  I  been  acquainted  with  the  news  which  had  that 
morning  arrived  in  Dublin,  I  should  not  have  wondered  at  the 
transformation  of  the  loyal  portion  of  the  bar;  but  I  should 
have  been  prepared  for  something  extraordinary,  for,  in  my 
way  to  the  Hall,  I  observed  Mr.  Secretary  O'Gorman  coming 
down  Mass-lane,  and  just  as  he  turned  the  corner,  Mr.  Peter 
Fitzgibbon  Henchey  (although  Mr.  Saurin  and  the  Chancellor 
happened  at  the  moment  to  be  passing !)  gave  a  look  of  un- 
qualified recognition  to  the  great  plenipotentiary,  which  was 
returned  with  an  air  of  official  affability  which  became  so 
eminent  a  functionary  as  Mr.  O'Gorman. 

The  appearance  of  the  latter  gentleman,  indeed,  was  suffi- 
cient to  intimate  that  some  momentous  incident  had  taken 
place.  Upon  occasions  of  great  importance,  Mr.  O'Gorman  puts 
on  a  pair  of  white  silk  stockings,  striped  with  black,  such  as 
he  observed  to  be  worn  by  Lord  Grey,  when  the  Secretary 
attended  the  Catholic  Deputation.*  The  hosiery  of  the  ultra- 
patriot  Earl  struck  the  fancy  of  Mr.  O'Gorman,  and  ever  since, 
upon  great  occasions,  I  have  observed  a  fac-simile  of  his 
Lordship's  stockings  distended  upon  the  herculean  symme- 
tries of  the  Irish  orator;  and  it  must  be  owned  that,  being  a 
little  spattered,  and  not  much  the  better  for  the  wear,  they 
are  not  a  little  emblematic  of  some  part  of  Lord  Grey's  recent 

*  The  descent  upon  England,  of  O'Connell,  Shell,  and  others  forming  "  The 
Catholic  Deputation,"  in  the  spi-ing  of  1825,  is  the  subject  of  one  of  the  follow- 
ing Sketches  —  certainly  infenor  to  none  in  personal,  as  well  as  in  political 
interest.     O'Gorman   was  secretai-y  to  the  Irish  Catholics. —  M. 


PETER   HENCHEY.  121 

parliamentary  conduct.*  The  conjecture  which  I  had  formed 
from  the  Catholic  Secretary's  inferior  habiliments  was  con- 
firmed by  the  cognizance  which  was  taken  of  him  by  Mr. 
Henchey,  who,  although  his  ancestors  were  deprived  of  their 
estates  in  the  county  of  Clare  for  their  creed,  is  now  a  devout 
adherent  to  the  Chancellor's  religion. 

Mr.  Henchey  has  three  manners  of  recognition.  If  he  walk 
to  court,  and  meet  a  junior  counsel,  who  has  held  a  brief  with 
him  in  the  matter  of  Lord  French  a  bankrupt,  this  gentleman, 
who  has  inherited  his  prenomen  from  Lord  Clare,  gives  a  nod 
of  rather  equivocal  intimacy,  in  which  the  consciousness  of  his 
own  consequence  is  not  altogether  merged.  If  Mr.  Henchey 
has  started  on  horseback  from  his  splendid  residence  in  Mer- 
rion-square  (which  was  once  the  town  mansion  of  Lord  Wick- 
low),  with  a  servant  riding  in  gorgeous  livery  on  a  prancing 
palfrey  behind  hira,  he  throws  a  casual  look  upon  his  pedes- 
trian brethren,  and  following  those  canons  of  conduct,  which 
Malvolio  lays  down  for  himself  upon  his  anticipated  elevation, 
"  quenches  his  familiar  smile  with  an  austere  regard  of  control." 
But  when  Peter  Fitzgibbon  Henchey,  one  of  his  Majesty's 
counsel  at  law,  seats  himself  in  his  carriage,  and  rolls  in  all 
the  pomp  of  legal  state  along  the  rattling  pavement  of  Nassau 
street,  he  would  be  a  bold  man  indeed,  unless  placed  in  imme- 
diate vicinage  to  the  bench,  who,  by  any  intrusive  salutation, 
should  attempt  to  disturb  Peter's  meditations  on  his  own  dig- 
nity, and  seek  to  attract  an  eye,  that,  bordered  with  deeply- 
pursed  and  half-closed  lids,  seems  to  be  abstracted  from  all 
external  objects,  and  to  have  fixed  itself  in  an  inward  con- 
templation of  the  importance  of  the  eminent  person  in  whose 
solemn  and  mysterious  visage  it  is  awfully  and  profoundly  set. 
Recollecting  the  habits  of  Mr.  Henchey,  when  I  observed  a 
person  hitherto  so  conspicuous  for  his  loyalty,  according  to  the 
sense  attached  by  Lord  Manners  to  the  word,  even  in  the 
presence  of  the  Chancellor,  leaning  from  the  window  of  his 
carriage,  and  suddenly  recovering  his  natural  faculty  of  tele- 
scopic vision,  waving  his  hand  to  the  Secretary  of  all  the  Cath- 

*  The  late  Lord  Grey's  determined  and  persenal  opposition  to  Canning,  the 
liberal  Premier,  in  1827. —  M. 

Vol.  IL— 6 


122  FEANCIS   BLACKBUENE. 

olics  of  Ireland  (Mr.  Henchey's  nearest  relatives  inclusive),  I 
concluded  that  something  marvellous  must  have  happened. 

I  entered  the  Hall  of  the  Four  Courts,  and  found  in  the 
looks  of  Barclay  Scriven,  who  was  sitting  on  the  basement  of 
one  of  the  pillars,  a  farther  ground  for  surmise.  A  few  days 
before  he  was  in  the  height  of  hilarity,  Avhen  Master  Ellis  was 
putting  the  anti-Oath olic  Petition  into  circulation,  with  the 
assistance  of  a  young  gentleman,  whose  aunt  ex-parte  paterna 
is  the  abbess  of  a  convent.  But  now  Barclay  Scriven  would 
have  furnished  Cruikshank  with  a  model  for  a  burlesque  of 
Ugolino.  He  formed  a  strong  contrast  with  Sergeant  Goold, 
whom  I  observed  tripping  it  on  a  toe  (which,  although  no  longer 
light,  is  still  fantastic),  with  a  renovation  of  his  former  alacrity, 
around  the  Hall.  He  has  been  lately  looking  a  little  autum- 
nal, and  has  fallen  into  the  sear,  the  yellow  leaf.  He  is  no 
longer  what  he  was,  when  he  danced  a  pas-seul  in  the  vagaries 
of  his  youth  at  Fish  amble  street ;  for  although  he  retains  his 
gracefulness  of  attitude,  he  has  sustained  some  diminution  of 
agility,  and  is  no  longer  so  well  qualified  to  dispute  the  palm 
with  the  "  god  of  dance''  upon  the  stage.  But  now  his  vivacity 
seemed  to  be  in  a  great  measure  restored.  He  looked  as  if  he 
had  been  newly  boiled  in  Medea's  caldron,  or  had  received 
from  Mr.  Godwin  a  recipe  for  everlasting  youth,  and  had 
started  back  some  twenty  years  to  life  again.*     I  was  de- 

*  William  Godwin's  striking  romance  of  "  St.  Leon"  (the  .interest  of  which 
turns  on  the  hero  having  obtained  the  elixir  vitce,  which  was  to  give  perpetual 
youth,  and  become  master  of  the  art  of  transmuting  the  meaner  metals  into  gold), 
■will  be  recollected,  by  posterity,  when  his  "  Political  Justice"  is  forgotten. 
That  work,  the  boldest  piece  of  republicanism  ever  published  in  England,  made 
Godwin  a  marked  man  during  the  greater  part  of  his  life  —  long  after  he  had 
laid  politics  aside.  He  published  "  St.  Leon,"  in  1799,  and  wrote  several  other 
works  of  fiction.  He  died  in  April,  1836,  aged  eighty,  and  for  the  last  five 
years  of  his  life,  had  a  competency  from  a  small  sinecure  place  to  which  Lord 
Grey's  Reform  Administration  had  appointed  him. —  Maiy  Wolstoncroft  who 
wrote  the  once  famous  "  Vindication  of  the  Eights  of  Women,"  was  his  wife 
(she  had  pre\'iously  lived  with  him,  "  on  principle,"  as  his  mistress),  and  died 
in  giving  birth  to  a  daughter,  who  is  known  in  the  world  of  letters,  as  the  wife 
of  Percy  Bysshe  Shelley,  the  poet  (who  was  drowned,  July,  18^2),  and  wa3 
herself  a  distinguished  writer,  as  her  "  Frankenstein"  shows  :  —  she  was  bom 
in  1797,  and  died  in  1851.— M. 


CHANGED   ASPECTS.  123 

lighted  at  the  favorable  appearance  in  this  able  and  honest 
man,  who  has  been  uniformly  faithful  to  his  country,  and  never 
sacrificed  his  principles  to  his  interests  by  the  abandonment  of 
a  cause  in  which  he  enlisted  in  the  enthusiasm  of  his  youth, 
and  has  since  adhered  to  with  a  constancy  which  no  temptation 
could  ever  disturb. 

The  next  individual  of  note  whom  I  observed  was  Mr.  Ser- 
geant Lefroy.  His  eyes  were  fixed  on  the  ground.  This  was 
not  unnatural,  nor  inconsistent  with  the  angelic  nature,  for  we 
are  told  by  Milton,  that  there  was  a  spirit 

"  Whose  looks  and  thoughts  were  always  downward  bent;" 

and  who  Avas  occupied  in  admiring 

"  The  riches  of  Heaven's  pavement,  trodden  gold." 

The  way  to  Heaven,  if  we  may  form  a  conjecture  from  the 
lives  of  the  devout,  would  appear  to  be  composed  of  the  same 
materials  as  its  pavement.  I  at  first  thought  the  Sergeant  was 
engaged  in  his  usual  celestial  occupation ;  but  looking  more 
attentively,  I  observed  that  the  gloom  of  worldly  solicitude 
was  mixed  with  the  consciousness  of  his  being  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  those  rewards  of  piety  which  are  promised,  in  the  Old 
Testament,  to  the  servants  of  the  Lord.  I  thought  the  pious 
jurisconsult  looked  deeply  melancholy  ;  perhaps  I  Avas  mis- 
taken, and  he  was  only  revolving  a  point  of  casuistry  for  the 
approaching  college  election,  and  preparing  to  demonstrate  itie 
proposition  which  he  afterward  broached,  that  **  no  man  at  an 
election  is  bound  by  a  promise  to  a  candidate,  where  the  safety 
of  religion  is  at  stake." 

I  had  scarcely  passed  this  eminent  theologian,  when  I  saw 
Judge  Moore*  entering  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  and,  ob- 
serving in  that  truly  liberal  and  patriotic  judge  (who  has 
approved  himself  on  the  bench  the  foe  to  faction,  consistent 
with  the  principles  which  rendered  him,  in  the  worst  times,  the 
dauntless  friend  of  Ireland  and  of  Henry  Grattan),  a  joyous 
and  unaccustomed  spirit,  I  concluded  that  something  fortunate 
for  his  country  had  taken  place. 

This  impression  was  strengthened  when  I  noticed   Peter 

*  This  is  not  the  present  Justice  Richard  Moore,  of  the  Queen's  Bench. —  M. 


124  FEANCIS   BLACKBURNE. 

Burrowes,  as  he  came  in  an  opposite  direction  into  the  Hall, 
with  that  aspect  of  heart-contenteduess  which  he  is  sure  to  mani- 
fest whenever  the  interests  of  Ireland  are  likely  to  be  promoted 
Availing  myself  of  some  acquaintance  with  this  veteran  in  the 
cause  of  Whiggism,  I  advanced  toward  him,  and  inquired 
whether  some  extraordinary  news  had  not  arrived.  Mr.  Bur- 
rowes is  a  remarkably  absent  man,  and  not  having  heard  my 
question,  stood  in  revery  beside  me,  muttering  an  occasional 
word  or  two,  when  I  repeated  my  interrogatory.*     He  was 

*  Peter  Burrowes  was  born  in  1753  and  died  in  1843,  having  reached  the  age 
of  ninety,  retaining  his  mental  faculties  to  the  close.  In  1774,  he  entered 
college,  and  won  a  scholarship,  by  sound  and  varied  learning,  in  1777.  He 
was  a  frequent  speaker  in  the  Historical  Society,  where  his  good  sense  and 
sound  information  were  highly  estimated.  He  was  of  a  sluggish  temperament, 
a  heavy  manner,  and  an  ungainly  person  —  but  independence  was  to  be  achieved, 
and  he  was  assiduous  and  persevering.  In  1785,  he  was  called  to  the  Iinsh  bar, 
and  obtained  his  first  honors  in  1791,  as  counsel  for  Sir  Lawrence  Parsons 
(afterward  Earl  of  Rosse  and  father  of  the  astronomer  and  present  President  of 
the  Royal  Society  of  London),  who  had  been  a  candidate  for  the  representation 
of  the  University  and  had  been  defeated,  it  was  avenged,  by  Provost  Hutchinson 
unduly  using  his  influence  for  his  own  son.  Continuing  to  win  reputation  at  the 
bar,  Burrowes  did  not  receive  a  silk  gown,  owing  to  an  impression  on  the  part 
of  Government  that  he  was  friendly  to  the  United  Irishmen  —  an  impression 
which  was  not  hastily  removed.  He  finally  obtained  the  honor  and  was  one 
of  fourteen  King's  Counsel  who  signed  a  public  protest,  in  December,  1799, 
against  the  proposed  Union.  He  sat  in  the  last  session  of  the  Irish  Parliament. 
In  1806,  he  received  the  lucrative  appointment  of  Counsel  to  the  Commission- 
ers of  Customs,  but  had  to  resign  it,  when  "  All  the  Talents"  quitted  office. 
His  future  course  was  one  of  hard  labor,  for  his  strong  liberal  opinions  excluded 
him'from  preferment  at  the  hands  of  a  Tory  Ministry.  In  1822,  when  Plunket 
was  made  Attorney-General,  he  had  Burrowes  made  Commissioner  of  the  Insol- 
vent Debtors'  Court,  the  large  salaiy  of  which  set  him  at  ease  for  the  rest  of  his 
life.  He  eventually  retired  on  a  pension  of  sixteen  hundred  pounds  sterling  a 
year.  He  was  convivial  and  witty  in  private  :  earnest  rather  than  eloquent  at 
the  bar.  Yet,  some  of  his  touches  were  good.  In  one  case,  where  a  man,  who 
had  been  flogged  nearly  to  death  in  1798,  brought  an  action  against  the  High 
Sheriff  who  ordered  the  torture  to  be  inflicted,  when  the  jury  laughed  at  a  jest 
arising  out  of  the  cruel  details,  Bun-owes  indignantly  exclaimed,  "  Ay,  gentle- 
men, you  may  laugh,  but  my  client  was  writhing.'''' — In  the  case  of  a  young 
lady  who  had  suffered  the  worst  wrong,  in  1798,  from  a  troop  of  brutal  yeo- 
manry, Burrowes  thus  described  the  victim's  entiy  into  Waterford :  **  The 
shades  of  evening  fell,  as  this  young  creature,  foot  sore,  and  alone,  entered  with 
a  palpitating  heart,  that  greatest  of  wildernesses  —  a  great  city."  This  is  simple 
and  pathetic,  as  well  as  sublime  in  its  simplicity. —  His  absence  of  mind  has 


PETER   ETJRflOWES.  125 

awakened  to  a  perception  of  the  objects  around  him  —  a  finely- 
illuminated  smile  succeeded  the  broad  gaze  of  vacancy  with 
which  his  eyes  were  at  first  fixed  upon  me,  and  he  exclaimed, 
"Why  is  not  Grattan  alive  to-day!" 

I  was  about  to  ask  for  some  more  explicit  information,  when, 
fortunately,  my  friend  Eccles  Outhbert  came  up,  and  having 
an  equal  talent  and  propensity  for  narration,  put  me,  with 
great  clearness  and  volubility,  in  possession  of  the  news,  and 
informed  me  of  the  revolution  in  the  Cabinet.  "  In  short," 
said  Mr.  Outhbert  (a  phrase  of  which  this  excellent  Whig  is 
somewhat  inappropriately  fond).  ..But  before  Mr.  Outhbert 
had  concluded  a  sentence  which  commenced  with  this  intima- 
tion of  brevity,  Mr.  Sergeant  Blackburne  walked  by.  The 
moment  I  saw  him,  I  interrupted  Mr.  Outhbert,  and  assured 
him  that,  "  if  I  had  entertained  any  skepticism  with  respect  to 
his  intelligence,  the  aspect  of  the  Sergeant  would  set  all  my 
doubts  at  rest. 

"  Yea,  this  man's  brow,  like  to  a  title-leaf, 
Foretells  the  nature  of  a  ti'agic  volume." 

The  Sergeant  was  changed  indeed.  A  little  while  before, 
when  the  party  under  whose  banners  he  had  enlisted  himself, 
confidently  anticipated  the  expulsion  of  Mr.  Oanning  from  the 
Cabinet,  Mr.  Sergeant  Blackburne  exhibited  as  much  alertness 
as  his  grave  and  sedate  nature  permitted  him  to  wear.     His 

been  mentioned  in  a  previous  note.  On  a  ti-ial  for  murder,  it  was  important 
to  the  prisoner  that  the  bullet  found  in  the  wound  should  be  produced.  It  was 
handed  to  Burrowes,  who  was  occasionally  taking  a  lozenge  for  a  hoarseness. 
In  the  middle  of  his  speech  he  paused,  and  suddenly  exclaimed,  "  0  Lord,  I 
have  swallowed  the  bullet  by  mistake." — He  M'as  found  sha^Hing  opposite  a  wall 
on  which  there  was  no  mirror.  ""Sir,"  said  the  servant,  who  v/as  asked  where 
it  was,  "my  mistress  had  it  removed  six  weeks  ago!" — Plunket,  once  at  a 
festive  entertainment,  said,  "  Although  I  am  about  proposing  the  healtli  of  Peter 
Burrowes,  I  am  not  inclined  to  conceal  his  faults,  much  less  to  describe  him  as 
faultless.  I  will  not  dwell  upon  his  minor  peccadilloes,  but  shall  only  allude 
to  those  by  which  he  is  continually  offending.  I  know  no  man  who  has  more 
to  answer  for.  He  has  spent  his  life  in  doing  acts  of  kindness  to  every  human 
being  but  himself.  He  has  been  prodigal  of  his  time,  of  his  trouble,  of  his 
talents,  of  his  money,  to  every  human  being  who  had  or  had  not  a  claim,  and 
this  to  the  serious  neglect  of  his  own  interests.  In  short,"  added  Plunket,  **  T 
can  only  account  for  such  an  anomaly  as  this,  by  supposing  him  utterly  destitute 
of  the  instinct  of  selfishness.  ' — M. 


126  FRANCIS   BLACKBURNE. 

habitual  composure,  and  the  sort  of  "  wilful  stillness"  which  he 
successfully  entertains,  had  given  way  to  an  unaccustomed 
spirit,  and  it  was  manifest  that  all  his  thoughts  had  been  put 
into  an  agreeable  and  pleasurable  movement.  He  never  wanted 
brilliancy  of  eye ;  but  he  had  been  used  to  subdue  its  expres- 
sion with  a  certain  solemnity  of  aspect,  which  made  him  look 
as  if  he  were  rehearsing  the  part  of  a  judge,  long  before  it 
should  come  to  his  turn  to  perform  the  part.  Thus  he  had 
contrived  to  invest  features,  which,  with  the  exception  of  his 
eyes,  are  rather  of  an  ordinary  cast,  with  an  important  sober- 
ness and  an  aspect  of  not  undignified  meditation.  His  figure, 
although  below  the  common  height,  and  of  broad  and  qua- 
drangular dimensions,  was  stiffened  into  a  kind  of  stunted 
stateliness  that  gave  him  an  imposing  and  somewhat  authori- 
tative deportment.  His  walk  and  gesture  were  always  in 
measure  with  the  march  of  his  steady  and  uniform  mind,  which 
was  never  betrayed  into  any  unseemly  precipitation.  Such 
was  the  ordinary  man  ;  but  he  was  now  entirely  altered.  The 
fire  of  his  eye  had  gone  out ;  his  walk  was  loose,  slouched,  and 
irregular;  restlessness  and  inquietude  were  apparent  in  the 
whole  frame  and  body  of  the  man,  and  dejection,  mingled  with 
the  fretfulness  of  disappointment,  spread  over  his  countenance. 
He  seemed  to  have  been  reduced  an  inch  in  elevation,  and  to 
have  shrunk  back  from  his  artificial  altitude  into  himself. 
How  changed  from  him  who  not  long  before,  amidst  the  orgies  of 
the  corporation,  with  his  cup  overflowing  with  claret,  announced 
himself,  amidst  the  acclamations  of  inebriated  aldermen,  to 
be  the  champion  of  the  church  and  state  !  Peter  BuiTOwes, 
who  is  full  of  the  milk  of  human  kindness,  though  it  occasion- 
ally turns  a  little  sour,  fixed  upon  him  his  vast  blue  eyes, 
which  would  fitly  provide  a  brace  of  Cyclops  with  the  orbs  of 
vision,  and  exclaimed,  in  his  usual  tone  of  rough  and  hoarse 
benevolence,  "  I  pity  Blackburne  !" 

The  Sergeant's  mistake  in  signing  the  anti-Oatholic  Petition 
might  have  excited  the  commiseration  of  Mr.  Burrowes ;  but  it 
produced  in  the  public,  on  account  of  its  imprudence,  more 
surprise  than  sympathy.  For  my  own  part,  I  was  not  at  all 
astonished  at  the  last  step  taken  by  Mr.  Blackburne,  because 


JOHN   PHILPOT   CURRAN.  127 

it  was  in  perfect  consistency  with  the  first  which  he  adopted 
when  he  crossed  the  threshold  of  his  profession. 

He  was  called  to  the  bar  about  the  time  that  the  celebrated 
John  Philpot   Ourran  was  made  Master  of  the  Rolls  *      A 

*  When  the  Whigs  came  into  office,  in  1806,  on  the  death  of  Pitt,  they  ap- 
pointed John  Philpot  Curran  to  the  bench,  as  Master  of  the  Rolls,  which  office 
he  held  until  1814,  when  he  resigned,  on  a  pension  of  three  thousand  pounds 
sterling,  and  resided  from  that  time  chiefly  in  London,  where  he  died,  in  1817, 
aged  sixty-seven.  He  was  by  no  means  a  good  equity  judge,  and  considered 
himself  unfairly  used  by  not  being  made  Attorney-General,  for  which  his  famil- 
iarity with  common  law  qualified  him,  and  from  which  office  (had  his  party 
remained  in  power,  which  was  not  the  case),  the  natural  transition  would  have 
been  to  the  Queen's  Bench,  Common  Pleas,  or  Exchequer,  as  Chief  Judge. 
Cun-an,  born  in  1750,  of  poor  parents  in  the  County  of  Cork,  was  educated  by 
a  benevolent  clergyman,  named  Boyce  (ever  let  us  record  the  names  of  good- 
doers)  who  strained  his  own  limited  means  to  send  him  to  college  and  get  him 
to  the  bar.  Fortmieless,  and  nearly  friendless,  Curran's  early  straggle,  ere  he 
obtained  law-practice,  was  bitter  and  painful.  But  his  talents  brought  him  on. 
He  entered  Parliament,  and  won  repute  there.  He  was  the  advocate  of  nearly 
all  the  persons  charged  with  political  offences,  during  the  last  eight  years  pre- 
ceding the  Union  (which  he  opposed),  and  his  forensic  eloquence,  on  these 
occasions,  excited  general  admiration.  His  fearlessness  as  an  advocate  injured 
him  at  the  bar,  for  Lord-Chancellor  Clare  let  it  be  seen  that  Mr.  Cuiran  and 
his  arguments  had  no  favor  with  him,  but  gave  him  immense  popularity.  His 
appeals  to  juries  were  powerful,  beyond  any  conception  which  can  be  foi-med 
from  his  published,  but  uncon-ected  Speeches.  In  one  case,  where  a  clergy- 
man named  Massey  sued  the  Marquis  of  Headford  (an  Irish  peer,  nearly,  but 
not  quite  as  wicked  as  his  almost  namesake,  the  English  Marquis  of  Hertford) 
for  seduction  of  his  wife,  Curran  —  who  had  himself  sustained  a  similar  wrong 
—  pleaded  so  powerfully  that  the  jury  returned  a  verdict  of  Ten  Thousand 
Pounds  sterling  against  the  "  noble"  Adulterer.  Curran's  conversational  were 
equal  to  his  oratorical  powers.  His  bon  imots  are  widely  known.  Byron,  who 
only  knew  him  in  his  later  years,  when  the  wine  of  life  was  on  the  lees,  chron- 
icled his  impressions  in  his  private  journal :  "  His  imagination  is  beyond  human, 
and  his  humor  (it  is  difficult  to  define  what  is  wit)  perfect.  He  has  fifty  faces, 
and  twice  as  many  voices,  when  he  mimics,  I  never  met  his  equal."  Again  : 
— *'  Curran,  Curran's  the  man  who  struck  me  most.  Such  imagination  !  There 
never  was  anything  like  it."  And,  further  on  :  "I  have  heard  that  man  speak 
more  poetry  than  I  have  ever  seen  written,  though  I  saw  him  seldom,  and  but 
occasionally." — Curran  was  small  in  statue,  swarthy  in  complexion,  and  with 
an  Irish  face,  in  which  brilliant  eyes  redeemed  everything.  Phillijis  thus 
sketches  him,  in  180.5,  as  he  appeared  in  the  Hall  of  the  Four  Courts:  "Mark 
well  that  slight,  short  figure,  with  restless  gait,  and  swaying  motion,  and  speak- 
ing gesture — he  with  the  uplifted  face,  protruded  upper-lip,  and  eyes  like  lir- 


128  FRANCIS   BLACKBURNE. 

meeting  of  the  bar  was  held  for  the  purpose  of  presenting  to 
Mr.  Ourran  a  congratulatory  address.  When  this  assembly 
had  been  convened,  and  after  some  of  the  most  eminent  persons 
in  the  profession  had  delivered  their  opinions,  a  yo]ing  gentle- 
man drew  upon  himself  the  general  attention  by  coming  delib- 
erately forward  and  opposing  the  motion  to  offer  a  tribute  of 
respect  to  a  man  whose  genius  had  reflected  so  much  honor 
upon  his  country,  and  in  "whose  speeches  passages  are  to  be 
found  which  rival  the  masterpieces  of  eloquence  in  ancient  lan- 
guage. It  would  not  have  been  extraordinary  if  some  hoary 
pleader,  actuated  by  political  prejudices  operating  upon  a 
naturally  narrow  mind,  which  had  undergone  still  greater  con- 
traction in  the  inferior  departments  of  the  profession,  had 
opposed  the  tribute  which  it  was  intended  to  offer  to  the  m.ost 
renowned  advocate  at  the  bar  :  but  it  excited  no  little  surprise, 
that  a  man  who  was  not  old  enough  to  have  personally  min- 
gled in  the  ferocious  contests  of  the  civil  war  (during  which 
Mr.  Ourran  had  displayed  an  intrepidity  which  excited  the 
animosities  of  the  successful  party),  and  whose  mind  ought  to 
have  been  susceptible  of  the  impressions  which  the  eloquence 
of  Mr.  Curran  was  so  well  calculated  to  produce  upon  the 
young  and  sensitive,  should  have  tendered  himself  as  a  volun- 
teer to  the  faction  of  which  that  great  speaker  Avas  the  antag- 
onist, and  had  earned  his  best  honors  in  their  hate. 

The  boldness  of  this  proceeding  was  quite  sufficient  to  at- 
tract notice.  Every  eye  was  fixed  upon  this  juvenile  and  un- 
known dissentient  from  the  great  body  of  the  bar.  They  saw 
a  formal  and  considerate-looking  person,  with  a  gravity  far 
beyond  his  years,  advance  with  perfect  coolness  and  self-pos- 
session ;  and  while  they  condemn  the  feelings  by  which  he 

ing  diamonds." — Ourran  was  fortunate  in  his  biog-raphers.  The  volume,  by 
Mr.  O'Regan,  published  soon  after  his  death,  is  chiefly  anecdotal.  His  son, 
William  Henry  Curran,  wrote  an  excellent  Memoir,  in  two  volumes,  long-  out 
of  prints  and  Charles  Phillips'  "Recollections  of  Cun-an"  (re-cast  and  much 
extended,  in  1850),  supplies  a  vast  quantity  of  information  about  the  man,  his 
times,  and  his  contemporaries. —  The  address  from  the  bar,  on  his  appointment 
as  Master  of  the  Rolls,  mentioned  by  Mr.  Sheil  as  opposed  by  Mr.  Blackburne, 
was  very  brief,  and  while  it  congratulated  him  on  his  promotion,  complimented 
him  on  the  public  grounds  of  his  ability,  independence,  and  intcgi'ity. —  M. 


STARTS    INTO   PUBLIC   LIFE.  129 

was  instigated,  they  could  not  but  perceive  that  he  had  quali- 
fications which  were  calculated  to  raise  him  to  great  eminence 
in  his  profession.  His  enunciation  was  perfect;  every  tone 
was  mellow  and  musical,  and  the  cadences  marking  his  flowing 
and  unelahorated  sentences,  manifested  the  finest  sense  of 
harmony,  and  a  peculiarly  rhythmical  elocution.  To  those 
external  qualities  was  added  an  easy,  round,  graceful,  and 
unstudied  gesture.  Although  he  took  the  side  upon  which 
many  angry  and  vindictive  passions  were  marshalled,  yet  he 
betrayed  none  of  the  violence  of  political  detestation.  He  was 
throughout  calm,  sober,  and  subdued,  and  displayed  that  clear- 
ness in  statement,  and  that  faculty  for  methodical  exposition, 
which  have  since  so  much  contributed  to  his  great  ^iccess  in 
his  profession.  It  was  painful  to  see  Mr.  Blackburn e,  exhibit- 
ing at  the  same  time  so  much  ability,  and  so  little  sense  of  the 
transcendent  merits  of  the  celebrated  person  whose  laurels  he 
endeavored  to  blight.  This  step  Avas  the  subject,  I  have  heard, 
of  general  comment.  It  was  considered  a  decided  intimation 
of  the  course  in  politics  which  the  young  gentleman  intended 
to  take,  and  his  promotion  under  a  Tory  ministry  was  generally 
anticipated.  This  precocious  disposition  to  sustain  the  "  as- 
cendency," might,  to  use  Rosalind's  illustration,  be  compared 
to  a  medlar;  and  it  might  have  been  not  unhappily  said  to 
Mr.  Blackburne,  by  any  lover  of  quotations,  "  you  will  be  the 
earliest  fruit  in  the  country  :  for  you'll  be  rotten,  ere  you  be 
half  ripe,  and  that's  the  right  virtue  of  the  medlar." 

Mr.  Blackburne,  however,  did  not  fulfil  the  anticipations 
which  had  been  formed  in  his  regard,  notwithstanding  this 
unequivocal  intimation  of  his  political  predilections.  He  got 
rapidly  into  business,  and  wisely  dedicated  himself  exclusively 
to  it.  In  a  short  time  his  first  exploit  was  :forgotten ;  and  as 
the  Irish  Catholics  are  disposed  to  consider  all  those  who  are 
not  ostensibly  against  them,  as  with  them,  a  notion  crept 
gradually  abroad  that  Mr.  Blackburne  had  leanings  to  the 
liberal  side.  However,  as  he  did  not  interfere,  little  was  said 
with  respect  to  his  political  opinions,  and  his  efficiency  in  his 
profession  caused  both  Catholic  and  Protestant  solicitors  to 
make  large  contributions  to  his  bag.     To  his  admirable  mlinner 

6* 


130  FRANCIS   BLACKBURNE. 

he  owes  much  of  his  reputation.  He  has  a  finer  voice  than 
any  man  at  the  bar,  and  has  an  ear  so  accurate,  that  the  nicest 
analyzer  of  tones  could  not  detect  the  least  deviation  from  har- 
mony in  his  utterance,  which  is  so  perfect,  that  Doctor  Spray, 
of  Christ  church  Cathedral  [Dublin],  who  was  master  of  the 
science,  used  to  declare  that  he  could  set  his  intonations  to 
music.  The  Sergeant  himself  is  an  excellent  singer,  and 
passionately  fond  of  that  accomplishment  in  others.  It  creates 
no  little  surprise  among  persons  who  are  not  aware  of  his 
being  possessed  of  this  talent,  when,  hearing  on  a  sudden  a 
peculiarly  rich  and  sweet  voice  breathing  in  delightful  tones 
one  of  Moore's  enchanting  melodies,  they  turn  round,  and  find 
in  the  musician  no  other  than  the  grave  and  solemn  person, 
whom  they  may  have  seen  in  the  morning  engaged  in  a  con- 
troversy respecting  the  form  of  a  notice  with  his  Honor  the 
Master  of  the  Rolls. 

But  it  is  not  to  manner  that  the  merits  of  Mr.  Blackburne 
are  confined.  Although  I  do  not  consider  him  as  by  any 
means  so  ingenious  and  astute  as  Mr.  Pennefather,  who  unites 
almost  every  qualification  which  can  be  desLred  in  an  advocate, 
yet  Mr.  Blackburne  is  surpassed  by  no  man  at  the  bar  in  per- 
spicuity ;  and  while  he  renders  subjects  the  most  difficult  and 
entangled,  perfectly  simple  and  clear,  he,  at  the  same  time, 
avoids  a  defect  sometimes  incidental  to  the  talent  for  exposi- 
tion, and  is  by  no  means  lengthy  and  prolix.  It  would  be 
wonderful,  if,  with  these  faculties,  he  had  not  succeeded ;  and 
accordingly  in  a  few  years  we  find  him  in  the  foremost  rank  of 
the  Chancery  Bar.  I  have  mentioned  that  he  observed  a 
systematic  abstinence  from  all  political  discussion,  in  the  in- 
terval which  was  employed  in  scaling  the  heights  of  his  pro- 
fession ;  but  shortly  after  the  arrival  of  Lord  Wellesley  as 
Lord-Lieutenant,  the  extension  of  the  Insurrection  Act  over 
several  of  the  southern  counties,  and  the  provision  contained 
in  that  statute,  that  a  barrister,  holding  the  rank  of  King's 
counsel,  should  preside  over  the  deliberations  of  the  magis- 
trates, brought  Mr.  Blackburne  again  upon  the  political 
stage.  A  most  favorable  opportunity  of  recommending  him- 
self to  Government  was  presented  by  the  refusal  of  Mr.  Penne- 


IN   FAVOR   WITH    LOED   WELLESLEY.  131 

father  to  undertake  the  ungracious  office  of  putting  this  curfew 
law  into  execution ;  and  Mr.  Blackburne  verified  the  maxim, 
that  men  are  often  more  advantaged  by  the  omissions  of  others, 
than  by  any  desert  of  their  own.  Mr.  Pennefather  was  pressed 
by  Government  to  proceed  to  one  of  the  disturbed  districts, 
invested  with  Proconsular  authority ;  but  that  gentleman,  not 
liking  the  occupation,  and  being  besides  in  bad  health  at  the 
time,  declined  the  honor  intended  to  be  conferred  upon  him. 
This  refusal  gave,  I  believe,  some  offence,  and  afforded  an 
excuse  for  not  promoting  Mr.  Pennefather  to  the  place  assigned 
to  him  by  the  unanimous  suffrages  of  the  profession. 

An  application  was  made  to  Mr.  Blackburne  to  undertake 
the  duties  which  had  been  declined  by  Mr.  Pennefather,  and 
the  proposition  was  immediately  acceded  to.  It  were  unjust 
not  to  state  that,  in  this  new  employment  Mr.  Blackburne 
acquitted  himself  in  such  a  way  as  to  give  satisfaction  to  the 
Government  and  to  the  public;  for  while  he  manifested  a 
proper  zeal  in  quelling  insubordination,  he  restrained  the  fero- 
cious passions  of  the  exasperated  gentry,  and  prevented  this 
iron  implement  of  oligarchical  dominion  from  being  converted 
into  the  means  of  gratifying  individual  animosities,  and  pro- 
moting the  sordid  or  tyrannical  views  of  every  needy  or  vin- 
dictive justice  of  the  peace. 

It  is  said  that  Mr.  Blackburne,  not  only  by  his  conduct,  but 
by  his  despatches  to  Lord  Wellesley,  raised  himself  not  a  lit- 
tle in  the  estimation  of  the  Marquis,  and  the  subsequent  inter- 
course between  them  improved  the  impression  which  had  been 
previously  made.  Lord  Wellesley  is  fond  of  the  echo  of  his 
own  voice,  which  comes  back  to  him  in  an  important  reverber- 
ation from  the  halls  of  the  viceregal  palace;  and  Mr.  Black- 
burne, who,  although  a  good  speaker,  has  upon  proper  occa- 
sions a  great  talent  for  silence,  and  has  a  fine  listening  eye,  in 
the  audiences  which  he  gave  Lord  Wellesley,  afforded  that 
distinguished  nobleman  the  best  proofs  of  attachment  to  his 
sovereign,  as  evinced  by  his  admiration  of  his  representative. 
Accordingly,  when  the  office  of  Sergeant  became  vacant,  while 
khe  Bar  pointed  to  Mr.  Pennefather  as  best  entitled  to  promo- 
tion, the  Government,  at,  it  is  believed,  the  instance  of  Lord 


132  FRANCIS   BLACKBT7KNE. 

Wellesley,  selected  Mr.  Blackbnrne.  Although  many  regretted 
that  Mr.  Pennefather,  whose  manners  render  him  as  popular 
ae  his  talents  make  him  conspicuous,  had  been  passed  by,  yet 
the  appointment  of  Mr.  Blackbnrne  gave  satisfaction,  as  he  is 
indisputably  a  person  of  great  merit,  and  has  not  yet  com- 
pletely enrolled  himself  under  the  banners  of  a  faction.  Mr. 
O'Connell,  who  carries  about  him  the  credulity  of  good-nature, 
believed  that  the  new  Sergeant  was  favorable  to  Emancipation, 
and  announced  his  promotion  as  an  auspicious  circumstance ; 
but  those  who  remembered  his  first  entrance  upon  the  political 
theatre,  did  not  permit  themselves  to  be  so  readily  led  astray. 
An  event  soon  after  occurred,  which  showed  pretty  clearly 
the  bearings  of  Mr.  Blackburne's  inclinations.  At  a  civic  din- 
ner, he  delivered  a  speech,  in  which  he  intimated  his  strong 
Protestant  predilections.*  I  do  not,  however,  attribute  this 
display  of  unanticipated  loyalty  to  any  ebullition  of  feeling 
upon  the  Sergeant's  part.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that,  previ- 
ous to  the  recent  resignation  of  Mr.  Peel  and  the  Protestant 
portion  of  the  Cabinet,  it  was  rumored,  among  the  circles  of 
their  supporters  in  Ireland,  that  Mr.  Canning  would  be  ejected 
from  power.     This  opinion  gained  ground  every  day,  and  grew 

*  The  mild,  temperate,  and  humane  disposition  of  the  Orange  body  may  be 
suiTTiised  from  the  charter-toast  of  the  association,  drunk  with  great  solemnity 
and  joy,  at  civic  feasts  and  on  the  first  day  of  July  (anniversary  of  the  Battle 
of  the  Boyne)  every  man  kneeling  as  he  repeated  the  v^^ords  —  said  to  have 
been  put  together  in  1689.  The  toast  ran  thus :  "  The  glorious,  pious,  and 
immortal  memory  of  the  great  and  good  King  William,  who  saved  us  from 
pope  and  popeiy,  brass  money  and  wooden  shoes.  He  that  won't  drink  this 
toast,  may  the  north  wind  blow  him  to  the  south,  and  a  west  wind  blow  him  to 
the  east ;  may  he  have  a  dark  night,  a  lee  shore,  a  rank  storm,  and  a  leaky  ves- 
sel to  cany  him  over  the  feriy  to  hell ;  may  the  devil  jump  down  his  throat 
with  a  red  hot  haiTow,  that  eveiy  pin  may  tear  out  his  inside ;  may  he  be  jam- 
med, rammed,  and  dammed  into  the  great  gun  of  Athlone,  and  fired  off  into  the 
kitchen  of  hell,  where  the  pope  is  roasting  on  a  spit  and  the  devil  pelting  him 
with  cardinals  !"  The  Catholics,  and  liberal  Protestants  who  refused  to  drink 
this  toast,  which  was  a  standing  dish,  late  in  the  evening,  after  the  dinners  cf 
Dublin  and  other  Corporations,  were  incontinently  declared,  from  such  recu- 
sancy, to  be  "  bad  subjects."  Not  only  ignorant  yeomanry  and  country  gentle- 
men, but  nobles,  prelates,  and  princes  (for  the  Duke  of  Cumberland  was  Grand 
Master  of  the  Orangemen !)  used  .to  drink  this  toast,  and  swear  to  stand  by  the 
order — when  they  were  too  far  gone  with  drink  to  stand  by  anything  else.  -M. 


HIS   ANTI-CATHOLIC   DISPLAY.  138 

into  a  sort  of  certainty,  wlien  the  anti-Catholic  Petition  waa 
presented  for  their  signatures  to  the  bar.  The  crisis  of  Ser- 
geant Blackburne's  fate  had  arrived.  There  is  generally  in 
the  life  of  every  man  some  one  incident  which  is  the  hinge  of 
his  destiny,  and  the  Sergeant  had  touched  that  cardinal  point. 
By  joining  the  Protestant  party,  he  would  have  given  him- 
self, in  the  event  of  their  success  in  the  bold  experiment  which 
was  then  in  contemplation,  a  strong  title  to  their  patronage, 
and  might  ultimately  have  attained  the  highest  honors  which 
it  is  in  the  power  of  Government  to  confer.  He  did  not  resist 
the  allurements  which  were  held  out  to  him ;  and,  giving  way 
to  those  original  propensities  which  he  had  manifested  in  the 
early  period  of  his  life,  and  acting  partly  upon  calculation,  in 
an  unluckly  hour  he  attached  his  name  to  Master  Ellis's  pe- 
tition. 

But  for  this  injudicious  step,  it  is  likely  that  Sergeant  Black- 
burne  would  be  Solicitor,  and  in  a  short  time  Attorney-Gen- 
eral, for  Ireland.  Upon  the  former  office  having  become  va- 
cant, his  friends  strongly  insisted  upon  his  pretensions;  but  it 
was  urged,  and  with  great  truth,  that  to  promote  a  decided  and 
avowed  enemy  to  Emancipation,  would  be  at  variance  with  the 
principles  on  which  Mr.  Canning's  administration  was  built, 
and  would  excite  the  indignation  of  the  Catholic  body,  whose 
passions  it  was  so  much  the  interest  of  the  new  Ministry  to  as- 
suage. The  consequence  was,  that  Mr.  Sergeant  Blackburne 
was  put  aside,  and  Mr.  Doherty,  who,  besides  being  the  friend 
and  relative  of  the  Prime  Minister,  is  member  for  the  city  of 
Kilkenny,  was  named  by  the  Cabinet  as  successor  to  Mr.  Joy. 

Sergeant  Blackburne  is  an  eminent  lawyer  ;*  and  for  calm 

*  The  reputation  of  Mr.  Sergeant  Blackburne  (and  his  sti'ong  political  bias), 
caused  him  to  be  made  Chief  Justice  of  the  Queen's  Bench,  in  which  capacity 
he  presided  over  the  trial  of  Mr.  Smith  O'Bnen,  for  high  treason,  at  Clonmel, 
in  1848.  In  1852,  when  the  Earl  of  Derby  formed,  an  administration,  he  raised 
Bluckburne  to  the  Chancellorship  of  Ireland,  for  which  his  former  practice  in 
Equity,  with  the  inclination  of  his  mind  and  the  particular  range  of  his  legal 
acquirements,  had  well  qualified  him.  As  he  was  only  nine  months  in  that 
office,  he  had  little  opportunity  of  "  making  his  mark"  upon  tne  public  mind, 
but  the  clearness  of  his  intellect,  the  extent  of  his  knowledge,  together  with 
his  patience  and  good  temper  (requirements  so  essential  in  a  judge),  impressed 


134  FRANCIS    BLACKBUKNE. 

discussion  of  questions  of  equity,  exhibits  in  mind  and  manner 
a  most  happy  aptitudt*  •  but  he  never  enjoyed  any  very  con- 
siderable reputation  as  a  public  speaker,  and,  in  addressing  a 
jury  upon  any  topic  of  importance,  as  well  as  in  the  cross- 
examination  of  witnesses,  being  very  inferior  to  Mr.  Doherty, 
is  by  no  means  as  well  qualified  as  that  gentleman  to  render  the 
Crown  efficient  service.  If  any  state-prosecutions  should  be  in- 
stituted, the  accused  would  find  in  Mr.  Doherty  a  far  more  dan- 
gerous assistant  of  the  Attorney-General  than  the  learned  Ser- 
geant. Of  the  fitness  of  the  latter  of  those  two  gentlemen  for 
this  important  office,  I  had  a  recent  occasion  to  form  an  accu- 
rate estimate. 

The  last  assizes  of  Clonmel  [1828]  presented  a  dreadful  mis- 
cellany of  the  most  barbarous  crimes,  most  of  which  were  of  an 
insurrectionary  character,  and  required  the  exercise  of  the 
strongest  powers  of  the  law.  There  were  not  less  than  three 
hundred  and  eighty  prisoners  upon  the  calendar,  from  which 
Judge  Burton  seemed  to  recoil  in  dismay.  The  Government 
felt  that  it  was  necessary  to  do  their  utmost  in  order  to  repress 
so  alarming  a  growth  of  crime ;  and  with  a  view  to  the  produc- 
tion of  effect,  and  in  order  to  give  the  administration  of  justice 
more  impressiveness,  deemed  it  advisable  to  send  Mr.  Sergeant 
Blackburne  as  special  counsel  for  the  Crown.  He  accordingly 
arrived  in  Clonmel  at  the  commencement  of  the  Assizes  ;  and, 
as  he  enjoyed  no  ordinary  reputation,  his  mission  had  the  de- 
sired effect,  by  drawing  the  general  attention  to  the  cases  which 
he  conducted. 

I  felt  a  good  deal  of  interest  in  some  of  the  most  important 
of  the  prosecutions,  and  had  a  particular  opportunity  of  observ- 
ing Mr.  Blackburne.  Upon  the  first  day  of  his  appearance  he 
availed  himself  of  the  right  of  the  Crown  to  address  the  jury 
(although  that  privilege  is  denied  to  the  prisoner  against  whom 
a  speech  is  directed  !),  in  order  to  present  a  picture   of  the 

the  leg"al  profession,  who  naturally  can  form  the  truest  opinion  on  such  a 
point,  with  respect  and  admiration.  Mr.  Blackburne  was  offered  a  peerage, 
on  his  appointment,  but  declined  it.  When  the  Derby  Ministiy  broke  up,  Mr. 
Blackburne  resigned  office  —  taking  the  usual  retiring  pension  of  four  thousand 
pounds  sterling  a  year.  He  -  was  succeeded,  in  December,  1852,  by  Mr. 
Maziere  Bradj,  whom  ho  had  displaced  nine  months  previously. —  M. 


THE  BURNING   OF  THE  SHEA.S.  135 

general  condition  of  the  county.  This  was  a  noble  opportu- 
nity for  genuine  eloquence.  The  best  materials  that  can  be 
well  conceived  for  a  powerful  harangue  were  gathered  together. 
The  county  was  almost  in  a  state  of  insurrection.  Armed  bands 
of  peasants  traversed  the  country  in  the  open  day,  and  put  to 
death  in  the  face  of  the  sun  whoever  presumed  to  violate  the 
code  of  regulations  which  they  had  arbitrarily  imposed,  under 
the  authority  of  their  invisible  chieftain.  Captain  Eock.  Du- 
ring the  assizes  themselves,  two  murders  were  committed,  and 
Mr.  Lanigan,  the  land-agent  of  Lord  Landaff,  was  fired  at  by 
a  party  of  forty  men.  The  evils  by  which  the  county  was  ac- 
tually afflicted  were  in  themselves  sufficiently  alarming,  with- 
out looking  into  ulterior  results ;  but  it  was  impossible  not  to 
reflect  upon  the  consequences  which  might  ensue  from  the  po- 
litical and  moral  state  of  a  famished  and  ferocious  population, 
provided  with  arms,  regularly  organized,  and  acting  upon  sys- 
tematic principles  of  insubordination. 

Independently  of  the  general  aspect  of  the  county,  which 
opened  such  a  Avide  field  to  a  powerful  speaker,  the  individual 
case  in  which  he  addressed  the  jury  was  one  of  the  most  appal- 
ling that  can  be  imagined,  and  attended  with  circumstances  of 
strangeness  as  well  as  of  atrocity,  which  furnished  an  occasion 
for  the  noblest  oratory.  Eighteen  individuals  had  been  burnt 
alive  in  one  of  the  dark  and  lonely  glens  of  the  mountain  of 
Slievenamaun,  and  the  chief  perpetrator  of  that  terrible  deed 
stood  in  all  the  ghastliness  of  guilt  at  the  bar.  The  courthouse 
was  filled  to  sufi'ocation,  by  persons  of  all  classes  ;  and  the  vast 
assembly,  together  Avith  the  leading  aristocracy  of  that  opulent 
county,  included  in  all  likelihood  some  of  the  brother-incendia- 
ries of  the  villain  who  was  brought  at  last  to  a  tardy  justice. 
The  deepest  silence  prevailed.  The  Judge  himself,  however, 
from  his  judicial  experience  disastrously  familiar  with  scenes 
of  this  kind,  seemed  to  be  awe-struck  by  the  consciousness  of 
the  important  consequences  of  the  trial,  and  weighed  down  by 
the  magnitude  of  the  crimes  over  the  investigation  of  which 
he  was  condemned  to  preside.  While  the  oath  was  adminis- 
tered to  each  of  the  jury,  every  eye  was  riveted  upon  the  indi- 
vidual who  held  the  sacred  volume  in  his  hand.     While  ho 


136  FEANCIS    BLACKBUENE. 

pressed  the  word  of  God  to  his  lips,  his  countenance  was  closely 
watched,  and  it  Avas  easy  to  perceive  upon  the  faces  of  the 
twelve  men,  upon  whose  concurrent  voices  the  life  of  their 
fellow-creature  was  to  depend,  a  strong  solicitude,  amounting 
almost  to  an  expression  of  fear,  at  the  hazard  which  they  were 
about  to  incur  by  a  conviction. 

It  was  under  these  circumstances,  and  in  the  midst  of  a  sol- 
emn hush,  that  Mr.  Sergeant  Blackburne  rose  to  address  the 
court ;  and  I  do  him  no  wrong  in  stating  that  he  did  not  raise 
himself  to  the  height  of  the  great  argument,  nor  did  he  even 
make  an  approach  to  its  elevation.  He  stated  a  case  fraught 
with  incidents  which  were  enough  to  make  "the  hair  stir  as 
life  were  in't,"  with  a  coolness  and  sang-froid  which  would 
have  become  the  argument  of  a  demurrer  in  the  Rolls.  He 
brought  to  a  court  of  criminal  justice  the  language,  the  gesture, 
and  the  intonations,  to  which  he  had  been  familiar  in  a  court 
of  equity ;  and,  in  my  opinion,  his  having  failed  to  produce  a 
deep  impression  arose  from  the  very  qualities  which  render 
him  an  accomplished  advocate  in  another  branch  of  his  pro- 
fession. 

It  may  perhaps  be  thought  that,  feeling  the  injustice  done 
to  the  prisoner  in  cases  of  felony,  by  permitting  the  counsel  for 
the  Crown  to  inflame  the  passions  of  the  jury,  while  the  right 
of  speech  is  denied  to  the  defendant's  advocate,  Mr.  Sergeant 
Blackburne  benevolently  abstained  from  eloquence,  and  from 
motives  of  commiseration  hid  his  brilliant  faculties  under  a 
merciful  mediocrity  and  charitable  commonplace.  I  am  far 
from  thinking  him  capable  of  using  any  undue  efforts  to  pro- 
cure the  conviction  of  any  individual  of  whose  guilt  he  could 
entertain  the  slightest  doubt :  he  is  a  man  of  unimpeached 
probity  and  honor;  but,  while  I  acquit  him  of  any  such  san- 
guinary intent,  it  is  due  to  frankness  to  add  that  he  entered 
into  a  general  view  of  the  state  of  the  county,  and,  by  exciting 
the  alarm  of  the  jury,  enforced  the  necessity  of  making  an  ex- 
ample, and  of  striking  terror  into  the  mind  of  the  populace. 
Perhaps  this  course  was  unavoidable ;  for  it  is  obvious  that  the 
exercise  of  this  privilege  by  the  counsel  for  the  Crown  must 
have  the  effect  of  heating  the  minds  of  the  jurors,  and  of  pre- 


AS    CEOWN-PROSECUTOK.  137 

paring  them  for  the  reception  of  the  evidence,  with  that  inevi- 
table bias  against  the  prisoner,  arising  from  the  predisposition 
to  convict,  which  an  appeal  to  their  passions  and  an  inculcation 
of  the  necessity  of  repressing  insurrection  can  not  fail  to  create. 
The  humane  and  truly  constitutional  Judge  pB!fai*tonJ  wko  pre- 
sided in  the  criminal  court  at  the  last  assizer  of  Clonmel,  and 
who  brought  with  him  from  England  those  Jiabits  of  justice  by 
which  he  is  distinguished,  was  sensible  ^f  the  disadvantage 
under  ^vhich  the  prisoners  labored,  from  the  causes  to  which  I 
have  referred,  and  appeared  to  me  to  allude  to  Mr.  Blaekburne's 
speech,  when  he  told  the  jury  to  discharge  their  minds  of  all 
considerations  excepting  the  evidence  imilTediately  applicable 
to  the  specific  case  before  them.  I  do  not  think  that  Mr,  Ser- 
geant Blackburne  was  much  more  successful  iii^cross-examina- 
tion,  to  Avhich  he  is  not  accustomed,  than  in  his  oratorical  dis- 
plays; and  it  was  the  general  impression  of  the  bar  that  the 
Crown  was  indebted  for  the  convictions  which  took  place  to 
the  superior  skill  of  Mr.  Doherty,  in  breaking  down,  as  it  is 
technically  called,  the  witnesses  produced  for  the  defendants. 

In  the  course  of  the  speeches  delivered  by  Mr.  Sergeant 
Blackburne,  in  the  discharge  of  his  functions  as  counsel  for  the 
Crown,  after  a  general  delineation  of  the  character  and  habits 
of  the  county  of  Tipperary,he  proceeded  to  state  what  he  con- 
ceived to  be  the  causes  of  the  miserable  condition  of  that  pop- 
ulous and  fertile  district,  and  to  point  out  a  remedy  for  the 
evils  by  which  it  is  oppressed.  He  stated  that  the  frightful 
crimes  which  had  been  committed  had  their  origin  in  the  spirit 
of  organization  to  which  the  peasantry  were  inveterately  prone  ; 
and  suggesting  that  the  rigorous  administration  of  justice  was 
adequate  to  the  cure  of  every  evil,  called  upon  the  jury  to  ap- 
ply, what  his  professional  predilections,  in  conformity  with  the 
proverb,  naturally  induced  him  to  consider  of  sovereign  efficacy 
in  removing  all  political  distempers.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
that  the  tendency  of  the  people  to  enter  into  illegal  combina- 
tions is  among  the  ingredients  of  national  calamity,  but  it  is 
far  more  a  consequence  of  remote  influences  than  it  is  an  essen- 
tial and  leading  cause.  Mr.  Sergeant  Blackburne,  in  endeav- 
oring to  discover  the  sources  of  that  deep  stream  of  bitterness. 


138  FRANCIS   BLACKBURNE. 

the  wide  and  almost  periodical  inundation  of  whose  waters  has 
produced  so  rank  a  fertility  of  crime,  must  have  made  but  little 
progress  toward  the  fountain-head,  and  mistaken  one  of  the 
branches  of  the  river  for  its  source, 

The  most  remarkable  of  the  many  important  cases  in  which 
Mr.  Sergeant  Blackburne  acted  as  leading  counsel  for  the 
Crown,  was  the  trial  of  William  Gorman,  to  which  I  have 
already  referred,  for  "the  burning  of  the  Sheas."  It  is  by 
that  title  that  the  terrible  crime  in  which  so  many  immolators 
and  so  many  victims  were  involved,  is  habitually  designated  ; 
and  whenever  a  man  expatiates  upon  the  atrocities  which  dis- 
grace the  country,  and  upon  the  conflagrations  by  which  its 
character  is  blackened,  he  refers,  as  to  a  leading  illustration, 
to  "  the  burning  of  the  Sheas." 

I  shall  not  readily  forget  the  impression  which  was  produced 
upon  me,  on  my  first  passing  near  the  spot  in  which  that  dread- 
ful incident  took  place,  when  some  of  its  details  were  narrated 
by  one  of  my  fellow-travellers,  in  descending  the  narrow  defile 
of  Glenbower.  The  remains  of  the  habitation  in  which  eigh- 
teen human  beings  were  committed  together  to  the  flames,  are 
not  visible  from  the  road  that  winds  at  the  foot  of  the  mount- 
ain on  which  it  was  situated ;  but  the  dark  and  gloomy  glen 
in  which  the  deed  was  done,  can  be  pierced  by  the  eye,  when 
the  mists  that  hang  upon  the  lofty  ridge  do  not  envelop  it; 
and  it  is  always  with  awe,  which  is  not  a  little  assisted  by  the 
loneliness  and  dreariness  of  the  scene,  that  the  traveller  turns 
his  eyes  toward  that  dismal  valley,  to  which  his  attention  is 
directed  by  the  habitual  exclamation  which  I  had  never  failed 
to  hear :  "  There  is  the  place  where  the  Sheas  were  burnt!" 
I  had  an  opportunity,  in  consequence  of  having  attended  two 
trials  connected  with  that  frightful  event,  of  learning  the  cir- 
cumstances by  which  it  was  attended  ;  and  as  in  these  sketches 
I  have  not  only  endeavored  to  draw  the  portraits  of  individual 
barri^.ters,  but  also  to  describe  the  character  of  their  occupa- 
tions as  influenced  by  the  nature  of  the  cases  in  which  they 
are  engaged,  an  occasional  account  of  the  most  important  and 
striking  of  those  cases  falls  within  the  scope  of  these  essays, 
and  at  all  events  may  not  be  unattended  with  interest  to  the 


THE  BURNING  OF  THE  SHEAS.       _    139 

reader.  Passing,  therefore,  from  the  advocate  to  the  prosecu- 
tions in  which  he  was  engaged,  it  will  not  be  inappropriate  that 
I  should  proceed  to  detail  the  incidents  which  attended  "  the 
burning  of  the  Sheas." 

Upon  the  morning  of  the  20th  of  November,  1821,  the  re- 
mains of  the  house  of  Patrick  Shea,  a  respectable  farmer,  who 
held  a  considerable  quantity  of  land  at  the  foot  of  the  mount- 
ain of  Slievenamaun,  exhibited  an  appalling  spectacle.  It  had 
been  consumed  by  tire  on  the  preceding  night ;  and  a  large 
concourse  of  people  (the  intelligence  of  the  conflagration  hav- 
ing been  rapidly  diiFused  through  the  neighboring  glens)  as- 
sembled to  look  upon  the  ruins.  Of  the  thatched  roof  which 
had  first  received  the  fire,  a  few  smoking  rafters  were  all  that 
remained.  The  walls  had  given  way,  and  stood  gaping  in 
rents,  through  which,  on  approaching  them,  the  eye  caught  a 
glimpse  of  the  dreadful  effects  of  the  devouring  element.  The 
door  was  burnt  to  its  hinges ;  and,  on  arriving  at  the  threshold, 
as  awful  a  scene  offered  itself  to  the  spectator  as  is  recorded  in 
the  annals  of  terror.  The  bodies  of  sixteen  human  beings  of 
both  sexes  lay  together  in  a  mass  of  corpses.  The  door  having 
been  closed  when  the  flames  broke  out,  the  inhabitants  precipi- 
tated tb  em  selves  toward  it,  and  in  all  likelihood  mutually 
counteracted  their  efforts  to  burst  into  the  open  air.  The  house 
being  a  small  one,  every  individual  in  it  had  an  opportunity 
of  rushing  toward  the  entrance,  where  they  were  gathered  by 
hope,  and  perished  in  despair.  Here  they  lay  piled  upon  each 
other.  Those  who  were  uppermost  were  burnt  to  the  bones, 
v^'hile  the  wretches  who  were  stretched  beneath  them  were 
partially  consumed.  One  of  the  spectators,  the  uncle  of  a 
young  woman,  Catherine  Mullaly,  who  perished  in  the  flames, 
described  the  scene  with  a  terrible  particularity.  With  an 
expression  of  horror  which  six  years  had  not  effaced,  he  said, 
when  examined  as  a  witness,  that  the  melted  flesh  ran  from 
the  heap  of  carcasses  in  black  streams  along  the  floor. 

But  terrible  as  this  sight  must  have  been,  there  was  another 
still  more  appalling.  The  young  woman,  whom  I  have  already 
mentioned,  Catherine  Mullaly,  resided  in  the  house,  and  had 
been  not  very  long  before  married.     She  had  advanced  a  con- 


140  FEANCIS    BLACKBURNE. 

siderable  period  in  pregnancy,  and  her  child,  which  was  born 
in  the  flames  in  a  premature  labor,  made  the  eighteenth  victim. 
I  shall  never  forget  the  answer  given  by  her  uncle  at  the  trial, 
when  he  was  asked  how  many  had  perished,  he  answered  that 
there  were  seventeen  ;  but  that  if  the  child  that  was  dropped 
(that  was  his  phrase)  in  the  fire  was  counted,  the  whole  would 
make  eighteen.  His  unfortunate  niece  was  delivered  of  her 
offspring  in  the  midst  of  the  flames.  She  was  not  found  among 
the  mass  of  carcasses  at  the  door.  There  were  sixteen  wretches 
assembled  there,  but,  on  advancing  farther  into  the  house,  in  a 
corner  of  the  room,  lay  the  body  of  this  unhappy  young  creature, 
and  the  condition  in  which  her  child  was  discovered  accounted 
for  her  separation  from  the  group  of  the  dead.  A  tub  of  water 
lay  on  the  ground  beside  her.  In  it  she  had  placed  the  infant  of 
which  she  had  been  just  delivered  while  the  fires  were  raging 
about  her,  in  the  hope  of  preserving  it ;  and  in  preserving  its 
limbs  she  had  succeeded,  for  the  body  was  perfect  with  the 
exception  of  the  head,  which  was  held  above  the  water,  and 
which  was  burned  away.  Near  this  tub  she  was  found,  with 
the  skeleton  of  the  arm  with  which  she  had  held  her  child 
hanging  over  it !  It  will  be  supposed  that  the  whole  of  this 
spectacle  excited  a  feeling  of  dismay  among  the  spectators; 
but  they  were  actuated  by  a  variety  of  sentiments.  Most  of 
them  had  learned  caution  and  silence,  which  are  among  the 
characteristics  of  the  Irish  peasantry,  and,  whatever  were  their 
feelings,  deemed  it  advisable  to  gaze  on  without  a  comment ; 
and  there  were  not  wanting  individuals  who,  folding  their  arms, 
and  looking  on  the  awful  retribution,  whispered  sternly  to  each 
other  that  "  William  Gorman  was  at  last  revenged  !" 

When  inf(n-mation  of  this  dreadful  event  reached  Dublin,  it 
produced,  as  it  was  natural  to  expect,  a  very  great  sensation. 
It  was  at  first  believed  that  "  the  burning  of  the  Sheas"  was 
the  result  of  that  confederacy  by  which  the  peasantry  had  reg- 
ulated the  taking  of  lands ;  and  that  as  the  previous  tenant, 
one  William  Gorman,  had  been  ejected  by  the  Sheas,  against 
the  will  of  the  people,  the  house  had  been  set  on  fire.  But  it 
was  asked,  "  What  object  could  there  be  in  destroying  so  many- 
individuals  who  were  innocent  of  all  crime,  and  were  mere 


THE   BURNING   OF   THE   SHEAS.  141 

laborers  and  servants  in  tlie  employment  of  the  occupying 
farmer?"  This  reflection,  and  a  wish  to  rescue  the  national 
character  from  the  disgrace  of  so  wanton  an  atrocity,  gradiially 
induced  a  surmise  that  the  fire  had  been  accidental ;  and  this 
conjecture  was  confirmed  by  the  fact  that,  notwithstanding  a 
large  reward  had  been  offered  for  the  discovery  of  the  incen- 
diaries, no  information  was  given  to  the  Government.  At 
length,  however,  the  fatal  truth  was  disclosed,  and  it  was  ascer- 
tained that  the  conflagration  was  the  result  of  a  plot  executed 
by  a  considerable  band  of  men,  and  that  the  whole  population 
in  the  neighborhood  were  well  aware  both  of  the  project  and 
of  its  execution.  The  first  clew  to  this  abominable  transaction 
was  given  by  a  woman  of  the  name  of  Mary  Kelly. 

This  female  had  been  a  person  of  dissolute  life,  and  had  mar- 
ried a  servant,  who,  having  relinquished  his  employment,  some 
time  after  his  marriage,  established,  with  the  assistance  of  his 
wife,  what  is  commenly  called  a  shebeen-house,  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  Sheas,  at  the  foot  of  Slievenamaun.  It  was  a  kind  of 
mountain-brothel,  or  rather  combined  the  exercise  of  a  variety 
of  trades,  which,  in  the  subdivision  of  labor  that  takes  place  in 
towns,  are  generally  practised  apart.  Her  husband  stated  that 
he  sold  spirits  without  license  ;  provided  board  and  lodging  to 
any  passengers  who  thought  it  expedient  to  take  up  their 
abode  wdth  him  ;  and  that  if  a  young  man  and  woman  had  any 
wish  to  be  left  alone  in  his  hospitable  and  accommodating 
mansion  at  a  late  hour  at  night,  he  and  his  wife  did  not  think 
it  genteel  to  meddle  with  their  discourse.  It  will  be  thought 
singular  that,  in  so  wild  and  desolate  a  district,  in  the  midst 
of  solitary  glens  and  moors,  such  conveniences  should  exist; 
but  they  are  not  unfrequent ;  and  one  often  meets  these  traces 
of  civilization  in  parts  of  the  country  which  carry  no  other 
evidence  of  refinement ! 

Mary  Kelly  appears  to  have  superintended  and  conducted 
this  establishment ;  her  husband  merely  giving  it  the  sanction 
of  wedlock,  and  joining  in  the  licentious  conviviality  which 
took  place  under  his  auspices.  But  although  his  wife  had,  upon 
lier  own  admission,  been  of  profligate  habits,  until  time  had 
transmuted  her,  by  the  ordinary  process,  from  a  harlot  to  a 


1^2  FEANCTS   BLACKBURNE. 

procuress,  yet  slie  does  not  appear  to  have  been  utterly  devoid 
of  all  virtuous  sentiment;  and,  indeed,  the  scene  which  she 
had  Avitnessed  was  of  such  a  nature  as  to  awaken  any  remnant 
of  conscience,  which  often,  in  the  midst  of  depravity,  is  found 
to  linger  behind. 

A  peasant  of  the  name  of  William  Gorman,  at  whose  trial 
Sergeant  Blackburne  conducted  the  prosecution,  had  originally 
held  the  house  where  the  Sheas  resided.  He  was  their  under- 
tenant, and  held  the  lowest  place  in  those  numerous  gradations 
of  tenure  into  which  almost  every  field  is  divided  and  subdi- 
vided ;  for  the  Sheas  were  not  middle-men  in  the  strict  sense 
of  the  word,  but  stood  themselves  at  a  great  distance  from  the 
head-proprietor  of  the  estate,  although  they  were  the  immedi- 
ate landlords  of  Gorman.  The  more  remote  the  head-landlord, 
the  heavier  the  weight  with  which  oppression  falls  on  the  oc- 
cupier of  the  soil.  The  o^vner  of  the  fee  presses  his  lessee; 
the  latter  comes  down  upon  the  tenant,  who  derives  from  him, 
who,  in  his  turn,  crushes  his  own  immediate  serf;  and  if,  which 
often  happens  in  this  long  concatenation  of  vassalage,  there 
are  many  other  interventions  of  estate,  the  occupier  of  the  soil 
is  in  proportion  made  to  suffer ;  and  is,  to  use  the  expression 
of  Lord  Clare,  "  ground  to  powder,"  in  this  complicated  system 
of  exaction  !  William  Gorman  was  dealt  with  most  severely. 
He  was  distrained,  sued  in  the  superior  courts,  processed  by 
civil  bill  —  in  short,  the  whole  machinery  of  the  law  was  put 
into  action  against  him.  Driven  from  his  home,  deprived  of 
his  few  fields,  without  covert  or  shelter,  he  made  an  appeal  to 
the  league  of  peasants  with  whom  he  was  associated ;  and,  as 
the  Sheas  had  infringed  upon  their  statutes,  it  was  determined 
that  they  should  die,  and  that  an  exemplary  and  appalling 
vengeance  should  be  taken  of  them. 

I  saw  William  Gorman  at  the  bar  of  the  court  in  which  he 
was  condemned.  He  heard  the  whole  detail  of  the  atrocities 
of  which  he  had  been  the  primary  agent.  He  was  evidently 
most  solicitous  for  the  preservation  of  life ;  yet  the  expression 
of  anxiety  which  disturbed  his  ghastly  features  occasionally 
gave  way  to  the  exulting  consciousness  of  his  revenge ;  and, 
as  he  heard  the  narration  of  his  own  delinquencies,  so  far  from 


THE  BUENING  OF  THE  SHEAS.  143 

intimating  contrition  or  remorse,  a  savage  joy  flashed  over  his 
face ;  his  eyes  were  lighted  up  with  a  fire  as  lurid  as  that  which 
he  had  kindled  in  the  habitation  of  his  enemies ;  his  hand, 
which  had  previously  quivered,  and  manifested,  in  the  irregu- 
lar movement  of  his  fingers,  the  workings  of  deep  anxiety,  be- 
came, for  a  moment,  clinched ;  and  when  the  groans  of  his 
victims  were  described,  his  white  teeth,  which  were  unusually 
prominent,  were  bared  to  the  gums ;  and,  though  he  had 
drained  the  cup  of  vengeance  to  the  dregs,  still  he  seemed  to 
smack  his  lips,  and  to  lick  the  blood  with  which  his  injuries 
had  been  redressed ! 

This  man  had  the  vindictive  feelings  of  a  savage  ;  but,  while 
his  barbarities  admit  of  no  sort  of  extenuation,  they  still  were 
not  Avithout  a  motive.  His  co-partners  in  villany,  however, 
who  arranged  and  conducted  the  enterprise,  had  no  instigation 
of  personal  vengeance,  toward  the  oppressors  of  William  Gor- 
man. At  their  head  was  a  bold  and  sagacious  ruffian,  whose 
name  was  Maher.  It  was  determined  that  their  plot  should 
be  carried  into  execution  on  Monday,  the  20th  of  November. 
On  the  preceding  Saturday,  Maher  went  to  Mary  Kelly's 
house,  and  retired  to  a  recess  in  it,  where  he  employed  himself 
in  melting  lead,  and  fusing  it  into  balls.  He  was  supposed  to 
be  a  paramour  of  Mary  Kelly  (though  she  strenuously  denied 
it),  and  she  was  certainly  familiar  with  him.  She  had  heard 
(indeed,  it  was  known  through  the  whole  of  that  wild  vicinage) 
that  it  was  intended  to  inflict  summary  justice  upon  the  Sheas; 
and  being  well  aware  that  Maher  was  likely  to  dip  his  hands 
in  any  bloody  business  which  was  to  go  on,  and  observing  his 
occupation,  which  he  did  not  seek  to  hide  from  her,  she  taxed 
him  with  his  "slaughterous  thoughts,"  and  having  some  good 
instincts  left,  begged  him  not  to  take  life  away.  Maher  an- 
swered with  equivocation. 

During  this  colloquy,  Catherine  Mullaly,  a  cousin  of  Mary 
Kelly,  came  into  the  house.  Maher  was  well  acquainted  with 
her,  and  had  the  rude  gallantry  which  is  common  among  the 
Irish  peasantry.  She  resided  as  a  servant  with  the  Sheas. 
Maher  believed  that  there  were  arms  in  the  Sheas'  possession, 
and  knew  that  there  were  a  number  of  persons  living  in  the 


144  FEANCIS   BLACKBUENE. 

house,  with  a  view  to  their  defence.  The  extent,  however,  of 
their  means  of  self-protection  the  murderers  had  not  ascer- 
tained, and  it  was  important  to  learn  the  fact,  in  order  that 
they  might  adapt  to  circumstances  their  mode  of  attack.  It 
is  probable,  that,  if  there  had  been  no  weapons  in  the  house, 
the  conspirators  would  have  burst  open  the  door,  dragged  the 
Sheas  out,  and  put  them  to  death,  and  would  have  spared  the 
more  unoffending  victims :  but  having  discovered  that  there 
were  firearms  in  abundance,  they  considered  the  burning  of 
the  house  as  a  measure  of  self-defence,  independently  of  the 
impression  which  a  massacre  upon  a  large  scale  would  be  likely 
to  produce.  Maher,  therefore,  sought  to  ascertain  the  state  of 
defence  from  Catherine  Mullaly,  and  entered  into  conversation 
with  her  in  the  tone  of  mixed  joke  and  gibe,  of  which  the 
lower  orders,  who  delight  in  repartee,  are  exceedingly  fond. 
The  young  woman  was  pleased  with  his  attentions,  and  in  the 
innocence  of  her  heart,  not  having  any  suspicion  of  his  intent, 
gradually  disclosed  to  him  that  there  was  a  quantity  of  arms 
in  the  house.  Maher,  on  her  departure,  put  on  her  cloak,  and 
bade  her  farewell  in  the  tone  of  friendship.  Mary  Kelly,  who 
knew  him  well,  and  guessed  at  his  object,  the  moment  Cathe- 
rine Mullaly  was  gone  (for  she  did  not  dare  to  speak  in  her 
presence)  implored  Maher,  whatever  he  might  intend,  not  to 
harm  Catherine  Mullaly. 

She  extorted  a  promise  from  him  to  that  effect,  on  which 
she  relied  for  the  moment,  and  they  separated ;  Maher  with 
his  balls,  and  Mary  Kelly  with  the  undertaking  for  the  life  of 
Catherine  Mullaly,  in  which  she  placed  so  mistaken  a  confi- 
dence. After  some  reflection,  however,  her  alarm  for  the 
safety  of  her  relative,  to  whom  she  was  much  attached,  revived, 
and  during  the  next  day  her  suspicions  were  increased  by  the 
notes  of  preparation  which  she  observed  between  Maher  and 
his  confederates.  However,  she  did  not  venture  to  speak  ;  for, 
to  use  her  own  phrase,  "  a  word  would  have  been  as  much  as 
her  life  was  worth ;"  still  a  terrible  inquietude  preyed  upon 
her,  and,  as  if  actuated  by  some  mysterious  impulse,  upon 
Monday  night,  when  her  husband,  to  whom  she  never  com- 
municated her  apprehensions,  was  asleep,   she  silently  rose 


THE  BURNING  OF  THE  SHEAS.  145 

from  .bed,  and  having  huddled  on  his  coat,  left  her  cabin, 
though  it  was  near  midnight,  and  advanced  cautiously  and 
slowly  along  the  hedges,  until  she  made  her  way  to  near 
Mailer's  house.  She  stopped,  and  heard  the  voices  of  men 
engaged  in  discussion,  which  lasted  some  time ;  at  length  the 
door  opened — she  hid  herself  behind  some  brambles,  and 
bending  down,  in  order  to  avoid  detection,  which  would  have 
been  death,  she  marked  the  murderers  as  they  came  forth. 
They  issued  from  Maher's  house  in  arms,  and  walked  in  a  sort 
of  array,  advancing  in  file.  Eight  of  them  she  knew ;  and,  as 
she  alleged,  distinctly  recognised  them  by  their  voices  and 
looks.  One  of  them  carried  two  pieces  of  turf,  lighted  at  the 
extremities,  and  kept  the  fire  alive  with  his  breath. 

They  passed  her  without  observation,  and  proceeded  upon 
their  dreadful  destination.  Trembling  and  terror-struck,  but 
still  impelled  to  pursue  them,  she  followed  on  from  hedge  to 
hedge,  until  they  got  beyond  her;  and  perceiving  that  they 
proceeded  toward  the  house  of  the  Sheas,  she  stopped  at  a 
spot  from  which  the  house  was  visible,  and  by  which  the 
murderers,  after  executing  their  diabolical  purpose,  afterward 
returned.  Here  she  remained  in  terrible  anticipation,  and  her 
conjecture  was  speedily  verified.  A  fire  suddenly  appeared 
in  the  roof  of  Shea's  house  ;  the  wind  high,  it  rose  rapidly  into 
a  flame,  and  the  whole  was  speedily  in  a  blaze.  It  cast  round 
the  rocky  glen  a  frightful  splendor,  and  furnished,  in  its  exten- 
sive diffusion  of  light,  the  means  of  beholding  all  that  took 
place  close  to  the  burning  cottage,  in  which  shrieks  and  cries 
for  mercy  began  to  be  heard.  The  murderers  had  secured  the 
door  ;  and  having  prevented  all  possibility  of  escape,  stood  in 
groups  about  the  house,  and  gazed  on  the  progress  of  the  con- 
flagration. So  far  from  being  moved  to  pity,  they  answered 
the  invocations  of  their  victims  with  yells  of  ferocious  laughter. 
They  set  up  a  war-whoop  of  exultation,  and,  in  token  of  tri- 
umph, discharged  their  guns  and  blunderbusses  to  celebrate 
their  achievement.  There  was  an  occasional  pause  in  their 
shouts :  nothing  then  was  heard  but  the  crackling  of  the 
flames,  that  shed  far  and  wide  their  desolate  illumination;  and 
the  spectatress  of  this  dreadful  scene,  though  at  some  distance 

Vol.  II.— 7 


146  FRANCIS    BLACKBUENK. 

from  it,  declared  tliat,  in  the  temporary  abatement  of  the  wind, 
and  the  cessation  of  its  gusts,  she  could  at  intervals  hear  the 
deep  groans  of  the  dying,  and  the  gulps  of  agony  with  which 
their  tortures  were  concluding. 

But  the  fiends  by  whom  these  infernal  fires  were  kindled, 
soon  reiterated  their  cries  of  exultation,  and  discharged  their 
guns  again.  The  report  of  their  firearms,  which  was  taken 
up  by  the  echoes  of  the  mountain,  produced  a  result  which 
they  had  not  anticipated.  On  the  opposite  side  of  a  hill  which 
adjoined  the  house,  there  resided  a  man  of  the  name  of  Philip 
Dillon,  who  was  a  friend  of  the  Sheas.  Hearing  the  discharge 
of  guns,  and  suspecting  what  had  taken  place,  he  summoned 
as  many  as  he  could  gather  together,  and  proceeded  at  their 
head  across  the  hill,  in  order,  if  possible,  to  save  the  Sheas. 
They  advanced  toward  the  house,  but  arrived  too  late  :  neither 
had  they  courage  to  attack  the  murderers,  who  at  once  drew 
up  before  the  flames  to  meet  them.  Philip  Dillon,  indeed, 
defied  them  to  come  on,  but  they  declined  his  challenge,  and 
waited  his  attack,  which,  as  his  numbers  were  inferior,  he 
thought  it  prudent  not  to  make.  Both  parties  stood  looking 
at  each  other,  and  in  the  meanwhile  the  house  continued  to 
blaze.  The  groans  were  heard  for  a  little  time,  until  they 
grew  fainter  and  fainter;  and  at  length  ^11  was  silent. 

Although  the  arrival  of  Philip  Dillon  did  not  contribute  to 
save  any  of  the  sufferers,  still  it  was  the  means  of  convicting 
William  Gorman,  by  affording  a  corroboration  to  the  testimony 
of  Mary  Kelly.  John  Butler,  a  boy,  who  was  in  the  employ- 
ment of  Philip  Dillon,  and  accompanied  him  to  the  burning 
house,  was  the  brother  of  one  of  the  servants  of  the  Sheas. 
Notwithstanding  he  could  not  give  any  assistance  to  his 
brother,  yet  his  anxiety  to  discover  the  murderers  induced  him 
to  approach  nearer  than  his  companions  to  the  flames,  when, 
by  the  fire  which  they  had  kindled,  Butler  had  an  opportunity 
of  identifying  William  Gorman,  against  whom  he  gave  his 
testimony,  and  thus  sustained  the  evidence  of  Mary  Kelly. 

All  was  now  over — the  roof  had  fallen  in,  and  the  ruins  of 
the  cottage  were  become  a  sepulchre.  Gorman  and  Maher, 
with  their  associates,  left  the  scene  of  their  atrocities,  and 


THE  BUKNLNG  OF  THE  SHEAS.  147 

returned  by  the  same  path  by  which  they  had  arrived.  An- 
other eye,  however,  besides  that  of  God,  was  upon  them. 
They  passed  a  second  time  near  the  place  where  Mary  Kelly 
lay  concealed ;  again  she  cowered  at  their  approach  ;  and,  as 
they  went  by,  had  a  second  opportunity  of  identifying  them. 
Here  a  circumstance  took  place  which  is,  perhaps,  more  utterly 
detestable  than  any  other  which  I  have  yet  recorded.  The 
conversation  of  the  murderers  turned  upon  the  doings  of  the 
night,  and  William  Gorman  amused  the  party  by  mimicking 
the  groans  of  the  dying,  and  mocking  the  agonies  which  he 
had  inflicted. 

The  morning  now  began  to  break,  and  Mary  Kelly,  haggard, 
affrighted,  and  laden  with  the  dreadful  knowledge  of  what 
had  taken  place,  returned  to  her  home.  Well  aware,  however, 
of  the  consequences  of  any  disclosure,  she  did  not  utter  a  syl- 
lable to  her  husband,  or  to  her  son,  upon  the  subject ;  and 
although  examined  next  day  before  a  magistrate,  who  con- 
jectured, from  the  ill-fame  of  her  house,  that  she  must  have 
had  some  cognizance  of  what  had  taken  place,  she  declared 
herself  to  be  innocent  of  all  knowledge.  John  Butler,  too, 
who  had  witnessed  the  death  of  his  brother,  immediately  pro- 
ceeded to  the  house  of  his  mother,  Alicia  Butler,  an  old  woman, 
who  was  produced  as  a  witness  for  the  crown ;  he  awoke  her 
from  sleep,  and  told  her  that  her  son  had  been  burned  alive. 
Her  maternal  feelings  burst  into  an  exclamation  of  horror 
upon  first  hearing  this  dreadful  intelligence ;  but,  instead  of 
immediately  proceeding  to  a  magistrate,  she  enjoined  her  son 
not  to  speak  on  the  subject,  lest  she  herself,  and  all  her  family, 
should  suffer  the  same  fate. 

For  sixteen  months,  no  information  whatever  was  communi- 
cated to  Government.  Mary  Kelly  was  still  silent,  and  did  not 
dare  to  reproach  Maher  with  the  murder  of  Catherine  Mullaly, 
for  whose  life  she  had  made  a  stipulation.  She  did  not  even 
venture  to  look  in  the  face  of  the  murderer,  although,  when  he 
visited  at  her  house,  which  he  continued  to  do,  she  could  not 
help  shuddering  at  his  presence.  Still  the  deeds  which  she 
had  seen  Avere  inlaid  and  burned  in  dreadful  colors  in  her 
mind.     The  recollection  of  the  frightful  spectacle  never  left 


148  FRANCIS    BLACKBURNE. 

her.  She  became  almost  incapable  of  sleep  ;  and,  haunted  by 
images  of  horror,  used  in  the  dead  of  night  to  rise  from  her 
bed,  and  wander  over  the  lonely  glen  in  which  she  had  seen 
such  sights;  and  although  one  would  have  supposed  that  she 
would  have  instinctively  fled  from  the  spot,  she  felt  herself 
drawn  by  a  kind  of  attraction  to  the  ruins  of  Shea's  habitation, 
where  she  was  accustomed  to  remain  till  the  morning  broke, 
and  then  return  wild  and  wan  to  her  home.  She  stated,  when 
examined  in  private  previous  to  the  trial  in  which  she  gave 
her  evidence,  that  she  was  pursued  by  the  spectre  of  her  unfor- 
tunate kinswoman,  and  that  whenever  she  lay  down  in  her 
bed,  she  thought  of  the  "  burning,"  and  felt  as  if  Catherine 
Mullaly  was  lying  beside  her,  holding  her  child,  "  as  black,  as 
a  coal,  in  her  arms."  At  length  her  conscience  got  the  better 
of  her  apprehensions,  and  in  confession  she  revealed  her  secret 
to  a  priest,  who  prevailed  upon  her  to  give  information,  which, 
after  a  struggle,  she  communicated  to  Captain  Despard,  a  jus- 
tice of  the  peace  for  the  county  of  Tipperary. 

Such  were  the  incidents  which  accompanied  the  perpetration 
of  a  crime,  than  which  it  is  difficult  to  imagine  one  more  enor- 
mous. To  do  the  people  justice,  immediately  after  the  con- 
viction and  execution  of  William  Gorman,  they  appeared  to 
feel  the  greatest  horror  at  his  guilt ;  and  of  that  sentiment  a 
E,oman  Catholic  assembly,  held  during  the  assizes,  afforded  a 
strong  proof.  The  assizes  had  gathered  an  immense  con- 
course of  the  lower  orders  from  all  parts  of  the  country,  and 
Mr.  Shell,  conceiving  that  a  favorable  opportunity  had  pre- 
sented itself  for  giving  a  salutary  admonition  to  the  people, 
and  believing  that  his  advice  would  be  fully  as  likely  to  pro- 
duce an  impression  as  the  Protestant  declamation  of  Mr.  Ser- 
geant Blackburne,  used  his  influence  in  procuring  a  public 
meeting  to  be  summoned.  A  vast  multitude  thronged  to  the 
place  of  assembly ;  and  I  am  bestowing  no  sort  of  encomium 
upon  Mr.  Shell,  when  I  say  that  his  speech  produced  a  great 
deal  of  effect  upon  the  peasantry,  for  the  bare  statement  of  the 
facts  which  appeared  in  evidence  in  the  course  of  the  assizes, 
would  have  been  sufficient  to  awaken  deep  emotions  wherever 
the  instincts  of  humanity  were  not  utterly  extinguished.     As 


THE   BTJENITTG    OF   THE   SHEAS.  149 

Mr.  Shell's  address  contained  .1  summary  of  the  principal  cases 
in  which  Sergeant  Blackburne  was  engaged,  and  he  dwelt 
especially  upon  that  of  Matthew  Hogan,  which  was  attended 
by  many  afflicting  circumstances,  I  shall  close  this  article  by  a 
citation  from  the  concluding  passages  of  that  gentleman's 
speech.  "  The  recollection,"  he  continued,  "  of  what  I  have 
seen  and  heard  during  the  present  assizes,  is  enough  to  freeze 
the  blood.  Well  might  Judge  Burton,  who  is  a  good  and 
tender-hearted  man — well  might  he  say,  with  tears  in  his 
eyes,  that  he  had  not  in  the  course  of  his  judicial  experience 
beheld  so  frightful  a  mass  of  enormities  as  the  calendar  pre- 
sented. How  deep  a  stain  have  those  misdeeds  left  upon  the 
character  of  your  county,  and  what  efforts  should  not  be  made 
by  every  man  of  ordinary  humanity,  to  arrest  the  progress  of 
villany,  which  is  rolling  in  a  torrent  of  blood,  and  bearing 
down  all  the  restraints  of  law,  morality,  and  religion,  before  it. 
Look,  for  example,  at  the  murder  of  the  Sheas,  and  tell  me  if 
there  be  anything  in  the  records  of  horror  by  which  that 
accursed  deed  has  been  excelled  !  The  unborn  child,  the  little 
innocent  who  had  never  lifted  its  innocent  hands,  or  breathed 
the  air  of  heaven  —  the  little  child  in  its  mother's  womb  ...  I 
do  not  wonder  that  the  tears  which  flow  down  the  cheeks  of 
many  a  rude  face  about  me  should  bear  attestation  to  your 
horror  of  that  detestable  atrocity.  But  I  am  wrong  in  saying 
that  the  child  who  perished  in  the  flames  was  not  born.  Its 
mother  was  delivered  in  the  midst  of  the  flames.  Merciful 
God  1  Born  in  fire !  Sent  into  the  world  in  the  midst  of  a 
furnace !  transferred  from  the  womb  to  the  flames  that  raged 
round  the  agonies  of  an  expiring  mother !  There  are  other 
mothers  who  hear  me.  This  vast  assembly  contains  women, 
doomed  by  the  primeval  malediction  to  the  groans  of  child- 
birth, which  can  not  be  suppressed  on  the  bed  of  down,  into 
which  the  rack  of  maternal  agony  still  finds  its  way.  But  say, 
you  who  know  it  best,  you  who  are  of  the  same  sex  as  Cathe- 
rine Mullaly,  what  must  have  been  the  throes  with  which  she 
brought  forth  her  unfortunate  offspring,  and  felt  her  infant 
consumed  by  the  fires  with  which  she  was  surrounded  !  We 
can  but  lift  up  our  hands  to  the  God  of  justice,  and  ask  him 


150  FBANCIS    BLACKBURNE. 

why  has  he  invested  ns  with  the  same  forms  as  the  demons 
who  perpetrated  that  unexampled  murder !  And  why  did  they 
commit  it? — by  virtue  of  a  horrible  league  by  which  they 
were  associated  together,  not  only  against  their  enemy,  but 
against  human  nature  and  the  God  who  made  it ! — for  they 
were  bound  together — they  were  sworn  in  the  name  of  their 
Creator,  and  they  invoked  Heaven  to  sanctify  a  deed  which 
they  were  confederated  to  perpetrate  by  a  sacrament  of  Hell. 
Although  accompanied  by  circumstances  of  inferior  terror,  the 
recent  assassination  of  Barry  belongs  to  the  same  class  of  guilt. 
A  body  of  men  at  the  close  of  day  enter  a  peaceful  habitation, 
on  the  Sabbath,  and  regardless  of  the  cry  of  a  frantic  woman, 
who,  grasping  one  of  the  murderers,  desired  him  *  to  think  of 
God,  and  of  the  blessed  night,  and  to  spare  the  father  of  her 
eight  children !'  dragged  him  forth,  and  when  he,  *  offered  to 
give  up  the  ground  tilled  and  untilled  if  they  gave  him  his 
life,'  answered  him  with  a  yell  of  ferocious  irony,  and  telling 
him  'he  should  have  ground  enough,'  plunged  their  bayonets 
into  his  heart !  An  awful  spectacle  was  presented  on  the 
trial  of  the  wretched  men  who  Avere  convicted  of  the  assassina- 
tion. At  one  extremity  of  the  bar  there  stood  a  boy,  with  a 
blooming. face  and  with  down  on  his  cheek,  and  at  the  other 
an  old  man  in  the  close  of  life,  with  a  wild  haggard  look,  a 
deeply-furrowed  countenance,  and  a  head  covered  with  hoary 
and  dishevelled  hair.  In  describing  the  frightful  scene  it  is 
consoling  to  find  that  you  share  with  me  in  the  unqualified, 
detestation  which  I  have  expressed ;  and,  indeed,  I  am  con- 
vinced that  it  is  unnecessary  to  address  to  you  any  observation 
on  the  subject. 

"  But,  my  good  friends,  I  must  call  your  attention  to  another 
trial,  I  mean  that  of  the  Hogans,  which  affords  a  melancholy 
lesson.  That  trial  was  connected  with  the  insane  practice 
which  exists  among  you,  of  avenging  the  accidental  affronts 
offered  to  individuals,  by  enlisting  whole  clans  in  the  quarrel 
and  waging  an  actual  war,  which  is  carried  on  by  sanguinary 
battles.  I  am  very  far  from  saying  that  the  deaths  which 
occur  in  these  barbarous  feuds  are  to  be  compared  with  the 
guilt  of  preconcerted  assassination,  but  that  they  are  accom 


ME.    SHEIL's  speech   TO   THE   PEOPLE.  161 

panied  with  deep  criminality  there  can  he  no  question :  the 
system,  too,  which  produces  them,  is  as  much  marked  with 
absurdity  as  it  is  deserving  of  condemnation.  In  this  county, 
if  a  man  chances  to  receive  a  blow,  instead  of  going  to  a  magis- 
trate to  swear  informations,  he  lodges  a  complaint  with  his 
clan,  which  enters  into  a  compact  to  avenge  the  insult  —  a 
reaction  is  produced,  and  an  equally  extensive  confederacy  is 
formed  on  the  other  side.  All  this  results  from  an  indisposition 
to  resort  to  the  law  for  protection ;  for  among  you  it  is  a  point 
of  honor  to  avoid  magistrates,  and  to  reject  all  the  legitimate 
means  provided  for  your  redress.  The  battle  fought  between 
the  Hickeys  and  the  Hogans,  in  which  not  less  than  five  hun- 
dred men  were  engaged,  presents  in  a  strong  light  the  conse- 
quences of  this  most  strange  and  preposterous  system.  Some 
of  the  Hickey  party  were  slain  in  the  field,  and  four  of  the 
Hogans  were  tried  for  their  murder: — they  were  found  guilty 
of  manslaughter — three  of  them  are  married  and  have  families, 
and  from  their  wives  and  children  are  condemned  to  separate 
for  ever.  In  my  mind,  these  unhappy  men  have  been  doomed 
to  a  fate  still  more  disastrous  than  those  who  have  perished  on 
the  scaffold.  In  the  calamity  which  has  befallen  Matthew 
Hogan  every  man  in  court  felt  a  sympathy.  With  the  excep- 
tion of  his  having  made  himself  a  party  in  the  cause  of  his 
clan,  he  has  always  conducted  himself  with  propriety.  His 
landlord  felt  for  him  not  only  an  interest,  but  a  strong  regard, 
and  exerted  himself  to  the  utmost  in  his  behalf.  He  never 
took  a  part  in  deeds  of  nocturnal  villany.  He  does  not  bear 
the  dagger  and  the  torch ;  honest,  industrious,  and  of  a  mild 
and  kindly  nature,  he  enjoyed  the  good  will  of  every  man  who 
was  acquainted  with  him.  His  circumstances  in  the  world 
were  not  only  comparatively  good,  but,  when  taken  in  refer- 
ence to  his  condition  in  society,  were  almost  opulent ;  and  he 
rather  resembled  an  English  yeoman  than  an  Irish  peasant. 
His  appearance  at  the  bar  was  in  a  high  degree  moving  and 
impressive — tall,  athletic,  and  even  noble  in  his  statui-e,  with 
a  face  finely  formed,  and  wholly  free  from  any  ferocity  of 
expression,  he  attracted  every  eye,  and  excited,  even  among 
his  prosecutors,  a  feeling  of  commiseration.     He  formed  a 


152  FKANCIS    BLACKBURN  E. 

remarkable  contrast  with  the  ordinary  class  of  culprits  who  are 
arraigned  in  our  public  tribunals.  So  far  from  having  guilt 
and  depravity  stamped  with  want  upon  him,  the  prevailing 
character  of  his  countenance  was  indication  of  gentleness  and 
humanity.  This  man  was  convicted  of  manslaughter ;  and 
when  he  heard  the  sentence  of  transportation  for  life,  all  color 
fled  from  his  cheek,  his  lips  became  dry  and  ashy,  his  hand 
shook,  and  his  eyes  were  the  more  painful  to  look  at  from  their 
being  incapable  of  tears.  Most  of  you  consider  transportation 
a  light  evil,  and  so  it  is,  to  those  who  have  no  ties  to  fasten 
them  to  their  country.  I  can  well  imagine  that  a  deportation 
from  this  island,  which,  for  most  of  its  inhabitants  is  a  misera- 
ble one,  is  to  many  a  change  greatly  for  the  better.  Although 
it  is  to  a  certain  extent,  painful  to  be  torn  from  the  place  with 
which  our  first  recollections  are  associated,  and  the  Irish 
people  have  strong  local  attachments,  and  are  fond  of  the  place 
of  their  birth,  and  of  their  fathers'  graves  —  yet  the  fine  sky, 
the  genial  climate,  and  the  deep  and  abundant  soil  of  New 
Holland,  afford  many  compensations.  But  there  can  be  none 
for  Matthew  Hogan : — He  is  in  the  prime  of  life,  was  a  pros- 
perous farmer: — -he  has  a  young  and  amiable  wife,  who  has 
borne  him  children ;  but,  alas  ! 

" '  Nor  wife,  nor  children,  more  shall  he  behold. 
Nor  friends,  nor  sacred  home.' 

He  must  leave  his  country  for  ever — he  must  part  from  all 
that  he  loves,  and  from  all  by  whom  he  is  beloved,  and  his 
heart  will  burst  in  the  separation.  On  Monday  next  he  will 
see  his  family  for  the  last  time.  What  a  victim  do  you  behold, 
in  that  unfortunate  man,  of  the  spirit  of  turbulence  which  rages 
among  you  !  Matthew  Hogan  will  feel  his  misfortune  with 
more  deep  intensity,  because  he  is  naturally  a  sensitive  and 
susceptible  man.  He  was  proved  to  have  saved  the  life  of  one 
of  his  antagonists  in  the  very  hottest  fury  of  the  combat,  from 
motives  of  generous  commiseration.  One  of  his  own  kindred, 
in  speaking  to  me  of  his  fate,  said,  *  he  would  feel  it  the  more, 
because'  (to  use  the  poor  man's  vernacular  pronunciation)  *  he 
was  so  tinder.^  This  unhappy  sensibility  will  produce  a  more 
painful  laceration  of  the  heart  than  others  would  experience. 


MR.  shi2Tl's  speech.  153 

when  he  bids  his  infants  and  their  mother  farewell  for  ever. 
The  prison  of  this  town  will  present  on  Monday  next  a  very 
afflicting  spectacle.  Before  lie  ascends  the  vehicle  which  is  to 
convey  him  for  transportation,  to  Cork,  he  will  be  allowed  to 
take  leave  of  his  family.  His  wife  will  cling  with  a  breaking 
heart  to  his  bosom;  and  while  her  arms  are  folded  round  his 
neck,  while  she  sobs  in  the  agony  of  a  virtuous  anguish  on  his 
breast,  his  children,  who  used  to  climb  his  knees  in  playful  emu- 
lation for  his  caresses,  his  little  orphans,  for  they  are  doomed 

to  orphanage  in  their  father's  lifetime I  will  not  go  on 

with  this  distressing  picture  :  your  own  emotions  (for  there  are 
many  fathers  and  husbands  here)  will  complete  it.  But  the 
sufferings  of  poor  Hogan  will  not  end  at  the  threshold  of  his 
prison : — He  will  be  conveyed  in  a  vessel,  freig]ited  with 
affliction,  across  the  ocean,  and  will  be  set  on  the  lonely  and 
distant  land,  from  which  he  will  return  no  more.  Others,  who 
will  have  accompanied  him,  will  soon  forget  their  country,  and 
devote  themselves  to  those  useful  and  active  pursuits  for  which 
the  colony  affords  a  field,  and  which  will  render  them  happier, 
by  making  them  better  men.  But  the  thoughts  of  home  will 
still  press  upon  the  mind  of  Matthew  Hogan,  and  adhere  with 
a  deadly  tenacity  to  his  heart.  He  will  mope  about,  in  the 
vacant  heedlessness  of  deep  and  settled  sorrow;  he  will  have 
no  incentive  to  exertion,  for  he  will  have  bidden  farewell  to 
hope.  The  instruments  of  labor  Avill  hang  idly  in  his  hands; 
he  will  go  through  his  task  without  a  consciousness  of  what  he 
is  doing :  or  if  he  thinks  at  all  while  he  turns  up  the  earth, 
he  will  think  of  the  little  garden  beside  his  native  cottage, 
which  it  was  more  a  delight  than  a  toil  to  till.  Thus  his 
day  will  go  by,  and  at  its  close  his  only  consolation  will  be 
to  stand  on  the  seashore,  and  fixing  his  eyes  in  that  direction 
in  which  he  will  have  been  taught  that  his  country  lies  —  if 
not  in  the  language,  he  will  at  least  exclaim  in  the  sentiments 
which  have  been  so  simply  and  so  pathetically  expressed  in 
the  Song  of  Exile  : — 

*'  *  Erin,  my  country  !  though  sad  and  forsaken, 
In  dreams  I  revisit  thy  sea-beaten  shore ; 
But,  alas !  in  a  far  foreign  land  I  awaken, 

And  sigh  for  the  friends  that  can  meet  me  no  more.' " 
7* 


CONFESSIONS  OF  A  JUNIOR  BARRISTER  * 

My  father  was  agent  to  an  extensive  absentee  property  in 
the  south  of  Ireland.  He  was  a  Protestant,  and  respectably 
connected.  It  was  even  understood  in  the  country  that  a  kind 
of  Irish  relationship  existed  between  him  and  the  distant  pro- 
prietor whose  rents  he  collected.  Of  this,  however,  I  have 
some  doubts ;  for,  generally  speaking,  our  aristocracy  are 
extremely  averse  to  trusting  their  money  in  the  hands  of  a 
poor  relation.  Besides  this,  I  was  more  than  once  invited  to 
dine  with  a  leading  member  of  the  family  when  I  was  at  the 
Temple,  which  would  hardly  have  been  the  case,  had  he  sus- 
pected on  my  part  any  dormant  claim  of  kindred.  Being  an 
eldest  son,  I  was  destined  from  my  birth  for  the  Bar.  This, 
about  thirty  years  ago,  was  almost  a  matter  of  course  with  our 
secondary  gentry.  Among  such  persons  it  was,  at  that  time, 
an  object  of  great  ambition  to  have  "  a  young  counsellor"  in 
the  family.  In  itself  it  was  a  respectable  thing — for,  who 
could  tell  what  the  "  young  counsellor"  might  not  one  day  be? 
Then  it  kept  off  vexatious  claims,  and  produced  a  general 

*  This  amusing  sketch,  of  which  it  may  be  said,  *'  Se  non  e  vero,  ^  ben  tro- 
vaio,^''  was  prefaced  with  the  following  notice : — "  Mr.  Editor  :  The  author 
of  the  Irish  Bar  Sketches  seems  of  late  to  Imve  suspended  his  labors :  and 
should  he  resume  them,  I  question  whether  it  forms  any  part  of  his  plan  to  take 
up  the  subject  upon  which  I  now  propose  to  trouble  the  public.  I  trust,  there- 
fore, that  he  will  not  consider  it  an  act  of  undue  interference  with  his  exclusive 
rights,  if,  pending  his  present  silence,  I  solicit  the  attention  of  your  readers  to 
the  following  sketch  of  myself.  It  may  be  vanity  on  my  part,  but  it  does  strike 
my  humble  judgment  that  the  details  I  am  about  to  submit,  and  I  shall  be  can- 
did even  against  myself,  have  an  interest  of  their  own,  which  will  excuse  their 
j)ublication." — The  suspension  spoken  of  here  was  imaginary,  as  one  of  the 
Sketches  had  appeared  in  May,  and  this  was  published  in  July,  1825. —  ML 


THE  DREAMS  OF  YOUTH.  165 

interested  civility  in  the  neigliborliood,  under  the  expectation 
that,  whenever  any  little  point  of  law  might  arise,  the  young 
counsellor's  opinion  might  be  had  for  nothing.  Times  have 
somewhat  changed  in  this  respect.  Yet,  to  this  day,  the  young 
counsellor  who  passes  the  law-vacations  among  his  country 
friends  finds  (at  least  I  have  found  it  so)  that  the  old  feeling 
of  reverence  for  the  natne  is  not  yet  extinct,  and  that  his  dicta 
upon  the  law  of  trespass  and  distress  for  rent  are  generally 
deferred  to  in  his  own  county,  unless  when  it  happens  to  be 
the  assizes'-time. 

I  passed  through  my  school  and  college  studies  with  great 
eclat.  At  the  latter  place,  particularly  toward  the  close  of  the 
course,  I  dedicated  myself  to  all  sorts  of  composition.  I  was 
also  a  constant  speaker  in  the  Historical  Society,  where  I  dis- 
covered, with  no  slight  satisfaction,  that  popular  eloquence 
was  decidedly  my  forte.  In  the  cultivation  of  this  noble  art, 
I  adhered  to  no  settled  plan.  Sometimes,  in  imitation  of  the 
ancients,  I  composed  my  address  with  great  care,  and  deliv- 
ered it  from  memory  :  at  others,  I  trusted  for  words  (for  I  am 
naturally  fluent)  to  the  occasion ;  but,  whether  my  speech  was 
extemporaneous  or  prepared,  I  always  spoke  on  the  side  of 
freedom.  At  this  period,  and  for  the  two  or  three  years  that 
followed,  my  mind  was  filled  with  almost  inconceivable  enthu- 
siasm for  my  future  profession.  I  was  about  to  enter  it  (I  can 
call  my  own  conscience  to  witness)  from  no  sordid  motives. 
As  to  money  matters,  I  was  independent ;  for  my  father,  who 
was  now  no  more,  had  left  me  a  profit-rent  of  three  hundred 
pounds  a-year. 

No ;  but  I  had  formed  to  my  youthful  fancy  an  idea  of  the 
honors  and  duties  of  an  advocate's  career,  founded  upon  the 
purest  models  of  ancient  and  modern  times.  I  pictured  to 
myself  the  glorious  occasions  it  would  present  of  redressing 
private  wrongs,  of  exposing  and  confounding  the  artful  machi- 
nations of  injustice ;  and  should  the  political  condition  of  my 
country  require  it,  as  in  all  probability  it  would,  of  emulating 
the  illustrious  men  whose  eloquence  and  courage  had  so  often 
shielded  the  intended  victim  against  the  unconstitutional  ag- 
gressions of  the  state.     It  was  with  these  views,  and  not  from 


156  CONFESSIONS    OF    A   JUNIOR   BAERISTEE. 

a  love  of  "  paltry  gold,"  that  I  Avas  ambitious  to  assume  the 
robe.  With  the  confidence  of  youth,  and  of  a  temperament 
not  prone  to  despair,  I  felt  an  instinctive  conviction  that  I  was 
not  assuming  a  task  above  my  strength ;  but,  notwithstanding 
my  reliance  upon  my  natural  powers,  I  was  indefatigable  in 
aiding  them,  by  exercise  and  study,  against  the  occasions  that 
were  to  render  me  famous  in  my  generation.  Deferring  for 
the  present  (I  was  now  at  the  Temple)*  a  regular  course  of 
legal  reading,  I  applied  myself  with  great  ardor  to  the  acquire- 
ment of  general  knowledge.  To  enlarge  my  views,  I  went 
through  the  standard  works  on  the  theory  of  government  and 
legislation.  To  familiarize  my  understanding  with  subtle  dis- 
quisitions, I  plunged  into  metaphysics ;  for,  as  Ben  Jonson 
somewhere  says,  "  he  that  can  not  contract  the  sight  of  his 
mind,  as  well  as  dilate  and  disperse  it,  wanteth  a  great  fac- 
ulty;"  and,  lest  an  exclusive  adherence  to  such  pursuits  should 
have  the  effect  of  damping  my  popular  sympathies,  I  duly 
relieved  them  by  the  most  celebrated  productions  of  imagina- 
tion in  prose  and  verse.  Oratory  was,  of  course,  not  neglected. 
I  plied  at  Cicero  and  Demosthenes.  I  devoured  every  trea- 
tise on  the  art  of  rhetoric  that  fell  in  my  way.  When  alone 
in  my  lodgings,  I  declaimed  to  myself  so  often  and  so  loudly, 
that  my  landlady  and  her  daughters,  who  sometimes  listened 
through  the  keyhole,  suspected,  as  I  afterward  discovered,  that 
I  had  lost  my  wits ;  but,  as  I  paid  my  bills  regularly  and 
appeared  tolerably  rational  in  other  matters,  they  thought  it 
most  prudent  to  connive  at  my  extravagances.  During  the 
last  winter  of  my  stay  at  the  Temple,  I  took  an  active  part,  as 
Gale  Jones,t  to  his  cost,  sometimes  found,  in  the  debates  of 

*  Irish  hamsters  are  compelled  to  "  study"  at  the  Temple,  or  some  other  Inn 
of  Comt,  in  London,  besides  eating  half  their  term  dinners  at  the  Queen's 
Inn,  Dublin.  If  an  Irish  barrister  wish  to  practise  at  the  English  bar,  he  must 
first  pass  two  years  at  a  London  Inn  of  Court,  and  pay  the  heavy  stamp-duties 
and  other  charges  —  though  he  had  already  paid  them  in  Dublin. —  M. 

t  John  Galo  Jones  v/as  a  notoriety  —  in  his  way.  He  was  bom  in  1771,  and 
before  he  had  reached  the  years  of  manhood,  had  declared  himself  enamored 
of  French  republican  principles.  Thence,  until  his  death,  in  1838,  he  was  one 
of  the  boldest,  ablest,  and  most  constant  speakers  at  political  meetings  in  Lon- 
don,    In  1810,  he  had  arraigned  the  House  of  Commons  at  the  bar  of  public 


GALE   JONES.  157 

the  British  Forum,  which  liad  just  been  opened  for  the  final 
settlement  of  all  disputed  points  in  politics  and  morals. 

Such  were  the  views  and  qualifications  with  which  I  came 
to  the  Irish  Bar.  It  may  appear  somewhat  singular,  but  so  it 
was,  that  previous  to  the  day  of  my  call,  I  was  never  inside 
an  Irish  Court  of  Justice.  When  at  the  Temple,  I  had  occa- 
sionally attended  the  proceedings  at  Westminster  Hall,  where 
a  common  topic  of  remark  among  my  fellow-students  was  tho 
vast  superiority  of  our  Bar  in  grace  of  manner  and  classical 
propriety  of  diction.  I  had,  therefore,  no  sooner  received  the 
congratulations  of  my  friends  on  my  admission,  than  I  turned 
into  one  of  the  Courts  to  enjoy  a  first  specimen  of  the  forensic 
oratory  of  which  I  had  heard  so  much.  A  young  barrister  of 
about  twelve  years'  standing  was  on  his  legs,  and  vehemently 
appealing  to  the  court  in  the  following  words :  "  Your  Lord- 
ships perceive  that  we  stand  here  as  our  grandmother's  admin- 
istratrix de  bonis  non;  and  really,  my  Lords,  it  does  humbly 
strike  me  that  it  would  be  a  monstrous  thing  to  say  that  a 
party  can  now  come  in,  in  the  very  teeth  of  an  Act  of  Parlia- 
ment, and  actually  turn  us  round  under  color  of  hanging  us  up 
on  the  foot  of  a  contract  made  behind  our  backs."     The  Coiirt 

opinion,  and  the  Commons,  instigated  by  the  Government,  committed  him  to 
Newgate,  where  he  remained  until  the  prorogation  of  Parliament,  when  he  was 
liberated  as  a  matter  of  course  —  neither  branch  of  the  Legislature  having  the 
power  of  awarding  imprisonment  beyond  its  own  Session.  He  was  tried,  at 
Warwick,  for  sedition,  and  acquitted  through  the  efforts  of  his  counsel,  Sir 
Samuel  Romilly.  I  heard  him  speak  in  1830,  when  he  was  sixty  years' old,  and 
even  then,  though  his  health  was  rather  broken,  he  displayed  much  of  the  bold- 
ness, fluency,  and  eloquence,  which  had  distinguished  him  in  his  prime.  At  the 
time  I  heard  him,  and  until  his  death,  his  chief  means  of  subsistence  were  what 
he  obtained  by  speaking  for  payment  in  the  political  and  other  discussions 
which  took  place  at  the  Rotunda  in  Blackfriars  Road,  the  Cicernian  Coffee 
House,  imd  other  debating  societies  in  London.  I  remember  that  on  one  occa- 
sion, when  I  had  ventured  to  present  some  matters  of  fact  and  figures  of  ai'ith- 
metic  against  his  beautiful  flowers  of  rhetoric.  Gale  Jones  condescended  to  ad- 
mit tha*  he  had  been  mistaken,  and  to  invite  me  from  the  body  of  the  Rotunda, 
where  I  sat,  as  a  spectator,  to  the  platfoiTn  where  he  and  the  other  orators 
were  placed.  On  my  declining  the  invitation  (thinking  that  the  "  post  of 
honor  is  the  private  station,"  in  such  cases),  he  requested  that  I  would  di'iak 
his  health,  and  s<'nt  round  his  own  particular  "  pewter  pot,"  out  of  which  ho 
begged  that  I  wo  >Jd  make  the  friendly  libation  ! — M 


158  CONFESSIONS   OF   A   JUNIOR   BARRISTER. 

admitted  that  tbe  force  of  the  observation  was  unanswerable, 
and  granted  his  motion  with  costs.  On  inquiry,  I  found  that 
the  counsel  was  among  the  most  rising  men  of  the  Junior  Bar. 

For  the  first  three  or  four  years,  little  worth  recording 
occurred.  I  continued  my  former  studies,  read,  but  without 
much  care,  a  few  elementary  law-books,  picked  up  a  stray 
scrap  of  technical  learning  in  the  courts  and  the  hall,  and  was 
now  and  then  employed  by  the  young  attorneys  from  my  own 
county  as  conducting  counsel  in  a  motion  of  course.  At  the 
outset  I  was  rather  mortified  at  the  scantiness  of  my  business, 
for  I  had  calculated  upon  starting  into  immediate  notice ;  but 
being  easy  in  my  circumstances,  and  finding  so  many  others 
equally  unemployed,  I  ceased  to  be  impatient.  With  regard 
to  my  fame,  however,  it  was  otherwise.  I  had  brought  a  fair 
stock  of  general  reputation  for  ability  and  acquirement  to  the 
bar;  but,  having  done  nothing  to  increase  it,  I  perceived,  or 
fancied  I  perceived,  that  the  estimation  I  had  been  held  in 
was  rapidly  subsiding.  This  I  could  not  endure ;  and  as  no 
widows  or  orphans  seemed  disposed  to  claim  my  protection,  I 
determined  upon  giving  the  public  a  first  proof  of  my  powers 
as  the  advocate  of  a  still  nobler  cause.  An  aggregate  meeting 
of  the  Catholics  of  Ireland  was  announced,  and  I  prepared  a 
speech  to  be  delivered  on  their  behalf.  I  communicated  my 
design  to  no  one,  not  even  to  O'Connell,  who  had  often  urged 
me  to  declare  myself;  but,  on  the  appointed  day,  I  attended 
at  the  place  of  meeting,  Clarendon-street  Chapel. 

The  spectacle  was  imposing.  Upon  a  platform  erected 
before  the  altar,  stood  O'Connell  and  his  staff.  The  chair 
which  they  surrounded  had  just  been  taken  by  the  venerable 
Lord  Fingal,  whose  presence  alone  would  have  conferred  dig- 
nity upon  any  assembly.  The  galleries  were  thronged  with 
Catholic  beauties,  looking  so  softly  patriotic,  that  even  Lord 
Liverpool  would  have  forgiven  in  them  the  sin  of  a  divided 
allegiance.  The  floor  of  the  chapel  was  filled  almost  to  suffo- 
cation with  a  miscellaneous  populace,  breathing  from  their 
looks  a  deep  sense  of  rights  withheld,  and  standing  on  tiptoe 
and  with  ears  erect  to  catch  the  sounds  of  comfort  or  hope 
which  their  leaders  had  to  administer.     Finding  it  impracti- 


AN   AGGREGATE   MEETING.  169 

cable  to  force  my  way  toward  the  chair,  I  was  obliged  to 
ascend  and  occupy  a  place  in  the  gallery.  I  must  confess 
that  I  was  not  sorry  for  the  disappointment ;  for,  in  the  first 
feeling  of  awe  which  the  scene  inspired,  I  found  that  my 
oratorical  courage,  which,  like  natural  courage,  "  comes  and 
goes,"  was  rapidly  "oozing  out;"  —  but,  as  the  business  and 
the  passions  of  the  day  proceeded  —  as  the  fire  of  national 
emotion  lighted  every  eye,  and  exploded  in  simultaneous 
volleys  of  applause — all  my  apprehensions  for  myself  were 
forgotten.  Every  fresh  round  of  huzzas  that  rent  the  roof 
rekindled  my  ambition.  I  became  impatient  to  be  fanned,  for 
my  own  sake,  by  the  beautiful  white  handkerchiefs  that  waved 
around  me,  and  stirred  my  blood  like  the  visionary  flags  of 
the  fabled  Houris  inviting  the  Mohammedan  warrior  to  danger 
and  to  glory. 

O'Connell,  who  was  speaking,  spied  me  in  the  gallery.  He 
perceived  at  once  that  I  had  a  weight  of  oratory  pressing  upon 
my  mind,  and  good-naturedly  resolved  to  q[uicken  the  delivery. 
Without  naming  me,  he  made  an  appeal  to  me  under  the  char- 
acter of  "  a  liberal  and  enlightened  young  Protestant,"  which 
I  well  understood.  This  was  conclusive,  and  he  had  no  sooner 
sat  down  than  I  was  on  my  legs.  The  sensation  my  unex- 
pected appearance  created  was  immense.  I  had  scarcely  said 
"  My  Lord,  I  rise,"  when  I  was  stopped  short  by  cheers  that 
lasted  for  some  minutes.  It  was  really  delicious  music,  and 
was  repeated  at  the  close  of  almost  every  sentence  of  my 
speech.  I  shall  not  dwell  upon  the  speech  itself,  as  most  of 
my  readers  must  remember  it,  for  it  appeared  the  next  day  in 
the  Dublin  Journals  (the  best  report  was  in  the  Freeman), 
and  was  copied  into  all  the  London  opposition  papers  except 
the  Times.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  the  effect  was,  on  the 
whole,  tremendous. 

As  soon  as  I  had  concluded,  a  special  messenger  was  de- 
spatched to  conduct  me  to  the  platform.  On  my  arrival  there, 
I  was  covered  with  praises  and  congratulations.  O'Connell 
was  the  warmest  in  the  expression  of  his  admiration :  yet  I 
thought  I  could  read  in  his  eyes  that  there  predominated  over 
that  feeling  the  secret  triumph  of  the  partisan,  at  having  con- 


i^O  CONFESSIONS    OF   A    JUNIOR    BARRISTER. 

tributed  to  bring  over  a  young  deserter  from  tbe  enemy's 
camp.  However,  be  took  care  tbat  I  sbould  not  go  witbout 
my  reward.  He  moved  a  special  resolution  of  tlianks  "  to  bis 
illustrious  young  friend,"  wbom  be  described  as  **  one  of  tbose 
rare  and  felicitous  combinations  of  buman  excellence,  in  wbich 
tbe  spirit  of  a  Wasbington  is  em.bodied  witb  tbe  genius  of  a 
Grattan."  Tbese  were  bis  veij  words,  but  my  modesty  Avas 
in  no  way  pained  at  tbem,  for  I  believed  every  syllable  to  be 
literally  true. 

I  went  bome  in  a  glorious  intoxication  of  spirits.  My  suc- 
cess had  surpassed  my  most  sanguine  expectations.  I  had 
now  established  a  character  for  public  speaking,  which,  inde- 
pendently of 'the  general  fame  tbat  would  ensue,  must  inevi- 
tably lead  t6  my  retainer  in  every  important  case  where  the 
passions  were  to  be  moved,  and,  whenever  the  Whigs  should 
come  in,  to  a  seat  in  tbe  British  Senate. 

After  a  restless  night  —  in  which  however,  when  I  did  sleep, 
I  contrived  to  dream,  at  one  time  that  I  was  at  tbe  bead  of  my 
profession,  at  another  that  I  was  on  the  opposition-side  of  the 
House  of  Commons  redressing  Irish  grievances  —  I  sallied 
forth  to-  the  Courts  to  enjoy  the  impression  which  my  display 
of 'the  day  before  must  have  made  there.  On  my  way,  my 
ears  were  regaled  by  tbe  cries  of  tbe  news-hawkers,  announ- 
cing tbat  the  morning  papers  contained  "Young  Counsellor 

's  grand  and  elegant  speech." — "This,"  thought  I,  "  is 

genuine  fame,"  and  I  pushed  on  witb  a  quickened  pace  toward 
the  Hall. 

On  my  entrance,  tbe  first  person  that  caught  my  eye  was 
my  friend  and  fellow-student,  Dick .  We  had  been  inti- 
mate at  College,  and  inseparable  at  tbe  Temple.  Our  tastes 
and  tempers  had  been  alike,  and  our  political  opinions  the 
■same,  except  tbat  he  sometimes  went  far  beyond  me  in  his 
abstract  enthusiasm  for  the  rights  of  man.  I  was  surprised  — 
for  our  eyes  met  —  tbat  he  did  not  rush  to  tender  me  his  greet- 
ings. However,  I  went  up  to  him,  and  held  out  my  hand  in 
the  usual  cordial  way.  He  took  it,  but  in  a  very  unusual  w^ry. 
The  friendly  pressure  was  no  longer  there.     His  countenance, 


RESULTS    OF    AN   ORATION  161 

which  heretofore  had  glowed  with  warmth  at  my  approach, 
was  still  and  chilling.  He  made  no  allusion  to  my  speech, 
but  looking  round  as  if  fearful  of  being  observed,  and  mutter- 
ing something  about  its  being  "  Equity-day  in  the  Exchequer," 
moved  away.  This  was  a  modification  of  "  genuine  fame"  for 
which  I  was  quite  unprepared.  In  my  present  elevation  of 
spirits,  however,  I  was  ratlier  perplexed  than  offended  at  the 
occurrence.  I  was  willing  to  suspect  that  my  friend  must 
have  found  himself  suddenly  indisposed,  or  that,  in  spite  of  his 
better  feelings,  an  access  of  involuntary  envy  might  have 
overpowered  him ;  or  perhaps,  poor  fellow,  some  painful  sub- 
ject of  a  private  nature  might  be  pressing  upon  his  mind,  so 
as  to  cause  this  strange  revolution  in  his  manner.  At  the 
time  I  never  adverted  to  the  rumor  that  there  was  shortly  to 
be  a  vacancy  for  a  commissionership  of  bankrupts,  nor  had  I 
been  aware  that  his  name  as  a  candidate  stood  first  on  the 
Chancellor's  list.  He  was  appointed  to  the  place  a  few  days 
after,  and  the  mystery  of  his  coldness  was  explained. 

Yet,  I  must  do  him  the  justice  to  say  that  he  had  no  sooner 
aittained  his  object  than  he  showed  symptoms  of  remorse  for 
having  shaken  me  off.  He  praised  my  speech,  in  a  confiden- 
tial way,  to  a  mutual  friend,  and  I  forgave  him — for  one  gets 
tired  of  being  indignant  —  and  to  this  day  we  converse  with 
our  old  familiarity  upon  all  subjects  except  the  abstract  rights 
of  man.  In  the  course  of  the  morning  I  received  many  sim- 
ilar manifestations  of  homage  to  my  genius  from  others  of  my 
Protestant  colleagues.  The  young,  who  up  to  that  time  had 
sought  my  society,  now  brushed  by  me  as  if  there  was  infec- 
tion in  my  touch.  The  seniors,  some  of  whom  had  occasion- 
ally condescended  to  take  my  arm  in  the  Hall,  and  treat  me 
to  prosing  details  of  their  adventures  at  the  Temple,  held- 
themselves  suddenly  aloof,  and,  if  our  glances  encountered, 
petrified  me  with  looks  of  established  order.  In  whatever 
direction  I  cast  my  eyes,  I  met  signs  of  anger  or  estrange- 
ment, or,  what  was  still  less  welcome,  of  pure  commiseration. 

Such  were  the  first  fruits  of  my  **  grand  and  elegant  speech," 

wtich  had  combined  (O'Oonnell,  may  Heaven  forgive  you !) 

"  the  spirit  of  a  Washington  with  the  genius  of  a  Grattan." 


162  CONFESSIONS    OF   A    JUNIOR   BARRISTEK. 

I  must,  however,  in  fairness  state  that  I  was  not  utterly  "  left 
alone  in  my- glory."  The  Catholics  certainly  crowded  round 
me  and  extolled  me  to  the  skies.  One  eulogized  my  simile  of 
the  eagle ;  another  swore  that  the  Corporation  would  never 
recover  from  the  last  hit  I  gave  them  ;  a  third  that  my  fortune 
at  the  Bar  was  made.  I  was  invited  to  all  their  dinner-par- 
ties, and  as  far  as  **  lots"  of  white  soup  and  Spanish  flummery 
went,  had  unquestionably  no  cause  to  complain.  The  attor- 
neys, in  both  public  and  private,  were  loudest  in  their  admira- 
tion of  my  rare  qualifications  for  success  in  my  profession ; 
but,  though  they  took  every  occasion,  for  weeks  and  months 
after,  to  recur  to  the  splendor  of  my  eloquence,  it  still  some- 
how happened  that  not  one  of  them  sent  me  a  guinea. 

I  was  beginning  to  charge  the  whole  body  with  ingratitude, 
when  I  was  agreeably  induced  to  change  my  opinion,  at  least 
for  a  while.  One  of  the  most  rising  among  them  was  an  old 
schoolfellow  of  mine,  named  Shanahan.  He  might  have  been 
of  infinite  service  to  me,  but  he  had  never  employed  me,  even 
in  the  most  trivial  matter.  We  were  still,  however,  on  terms 
of,  to  me  rather  unpleasant  familiarity  ;  for  he  affected  in  his 
language  and  manners  a  certain  waggish  slang,  from  which  my 
classical  sensibilities  revolted.  One  day,  as  I  was  going  my 
usual  rounds  in  the  Hall,  Shanahan,  who  held  a  bundle  of 
briefs  under  his  arm,  came  up  and  drew  me  aside  toward  one 
of  the  recesses.  "  Ned,  my  boy,"  said  he,  for  that  was  his 
customary  style  of  addressing  me,  "  I  just  want  to  tell  you  that 
I  have  a  sporting  record  now  at  issue,  and  which  I'm  to  bring 

down  to for  trial  at  the  next  assizes.     It's  an  action 

against  a  magistrate,  and  a  Bible-distributer  into  the  bargain, 
for  the  seduction  of  a  farmer's  daughter.  You  are  to  be  in 
it  —  I  have  taken  care  of  that  —  and  I  just  want  to  know  if 
you'd  like  to  state  the  case,  for,  if  you  do,  it  can  be  managed." 
My  heart  palpitated  with  gratitude,  but  it  would  have  been 
unprofessional  to  give  it  utterance ;  so  I  simply  expressed  my 
readiness  to  undertake  the  office.  "  Consider  yourself,  then, 
retained  as  stating  counsel,"  said  he,  but  without  handing  me 
any  fee.  "  All  you  Avant  is  an  opportunity  of  showing  what 
you  can  do  with  a  jury,  and  never  was  there  a  finer  one  than 


THE   LAWYER   IN   LOVE.  163 

this.  It  was  just  such  another  that  first  brought  that  lad  there 
into  notice,"  pointing  to  one  of  the  sergeants  that  rustled  by 
us.  "  You  shall  have  your  instructions  in  full  time  to  be  pre- 
pared. Only  hit  the  Bible-boy  in  the  way  I  know  you  can, 
and  your  name  will  be  up  on  the  circuit." 

The  next  day  Shanahan  called  me  aside  again.  In  the 
interval,  I  had  composed  a  striking  exordium  and  peroration, 
with  several  powerful  passages  of  general  application,  to  be 
interspersed  according  as  the  facts  should  turn  out,  through 
the  body  of  the  statement.  "Ned,"  said  the  attorney  to  me, 
as  soon  as  we  had  reached  a  part  of  the  Hall  where  there 
was  no  risk  of  being  overheard,  "  I  now  want  to  consult  you 
upon"  —  here  he  rather  hesitated  —  "  in  fact,  upon  a  little  case 
of  my  own."  After  a  shoit  pause  he  proceeded  :  "  You  know 
a  young  lady  from  your  county.  Miss  Dickson?"  —  "Harriet 
Dickson?"  —  "  The  very  one."  —  "  Intimately  well ;  she's  now 
in  town  with  her  cousins  in  Harcourt  street :  I  see  her  almost 
every  day."  — "  She  has  a  very  pretty  property  too,  they 
say,  under  her  father's  will  —  a  lease  for  lives  renewable  for 
ever."  —  "  So  I  have  always  understood."  —  "  In  fact,  Ned,"  he 
continued,  looking  somewhat  foolish,  and  in  a  tone  half  slang, 
half  sentiment,  "  I  am  rather  inclined  to  think  —  as  at  present 
advised  —  that  she  has  partly  gained  my  affections.  Come, 
come,  my  boy,  no  laughing ;  upon  my  faith  and  soul,  I  'm 
serious  —  and  what's  more,  -I  have  reason  to  think  that  she'll 
have  no  objection  to  my  telling  her  so  :  but,  with  those  devils 
of  cousins  at  her  elbow,  there 's  no  getting  her  inj;o  a  corner 
with  one's  self  for  an  instant ;  so,  what  I  want  you  to  do  for 
me,  Ned,  is  this — just  to  throw  your  eye  over  a  wide-line  copy 
of  a  little  notice  to  that  effect  I  have  been  thinking  of  serving 
her  with."     Here  he  extracted  from  a  mass  of  law-documents 

a  paper  endorsed,  "  Draft  letter  to  Miss  D ,"  and  folded 

up  and  tied  with  red  tape  like  the  rest.  The  matter  corre- 
sponded w^ith  the  exterior.  I  contrived,  but  not  without  an 
effort,  to  preserve  my  countenance  as  I  perused  this  singular 
production,  in  which  sighs  and  vows  were  embodied  in  the 
language  of  an  affidavit  to  hold  to  bail.  Amid  the  manifold 
vagaries  of  Cupid,  it  was   the   first   time   I   had   seen  him 


164  CONFESSIONS    OF    A    JUNIOR   BARRISTER. 

exchanging  his  ordinary  dart  for  an  Attorney's  office-pen. 
When  I  came  to  the  end,  he  asked  if  I  thought  it  might  be 
improved.  I  candidly  answered  that  it  would,  in  my  opinion, 
admit  of  change  and  correction.  *'  Then,"  said  he,  ''I  shall  be 
eternally  obliged  if  you'll  just  do  the  needful  with  it.  You 
perceive  that  I  have  not  been  too  explicit,  for,  between  our- 
selves, I  have  one  or  two  points  to  ascertain  about  the  state 
of  the  property  before  I  think  it  prudent  to  commit  myself  on 
paper.  It  would  never  do,  you  know,  to  be  brought  into  court 
for  a  breach  of  promise  of  marriage;  so  you'll  keep  this  in 
view,  and  before  you  begin,  just  cast  a  glance  over  the  Statute 
of  Frauds."  Before  I  could  answer,  he  was  called  away  to 
attend  a  motion. 

The  office  thus  flung  upon  me  was  not  of  the  most  dignified 
kind,  but  the  seduction-case  was  too  valuable  to  be  risked  ;  so 
pitting  my  ambition  against  my  pride,  I  found  the  latter  soon 
give  way  ;  and  on  the  following  day  I  presented  the  lover 
with  a  declaratory  effusion  at  once  so  glowing  and  so  cautious, 
so  impassioned  as  to  matters  of  sentiment,  but  withal  so 
guarded  in  point  of  law,  that  he  did  not  hesitate  to  pronounce 
it  a  masterpiece  of  literary  composition  and  forensic  skill.  He 
overwhelmed  me  with  thanks,  and  went  home  to  copy  and 
despatch  it.  I  now  come  to  the  most  whimsical  part  of  the 
transaction.  With  Miss  Dickson,  as  I  had  stated  to  her  ad- 
mirer, I  was  extremely  intimate.  We  had  known  each  other 
from  childhood,  and  conversed  with  the  familiarity  rather  of 
cousins  than  mere  acquaintances.  When  she  was  in  town,  I 
saw  her  almost  daily,  talked  to  her  of  myself  and  my  pros- 
pects, lectured  her  on  her  love  of  dress,  and  in  return  was 
always  at  her  command  for  any  small  service  of  gallantry  or 
friendship  that  she  might  require.  The  next  time  I  called,  I 
could  perceive  that  I  was  unusually  welcome.  Her  cousins 
were  with  her,  but  they  quickly  retired  and  left  us  together. 
As  soon  as  we  were  alone,  Harriet  announced  to  me  **  that 
she  had  a  favor — a  very  great  one  indeed  —  to  ask  of  me." 
She  proceeded,  and  with  infinite  command  of  countenance. 
"There  was  a  friend  of  hers  —  one  for  whom  she  was  deeply 
interested — in  fact  it  was  —  but  no  —  she  must  not  betray  a 


LAW   AND   LOVE.  165 

secret — and  this  friend  had  the  day  before  received  a  letter 
containing  something  like,  but  still  not  exactly  a  proposition 
of — in  short,  of  a  most  interesting  nature;  and  her  friend  was 
terribly  perplexed  how  to  reply  to  it,  for  she  was  very  young 
and  inexperienced,  and  all  that;  and  she  had  tried  two  or 
three  times  and  had  failed ;  and  then  she  had  consulted  her 
(Harriet),  and  she  (Harriet)  had  also  been  puzzled,  for  the 
letter  in  question  was  in  fact,  as  far  as  it  was  intelligible,  so 
uncommonly  well  written,  both  in  style  and  in  sentiment,  that 
her  friend  was,  of  course,  particularly  anxious  to  send  a  suit- 
able reply — and  this  was  Harriet's  own  feeling,  and  she  had 
therefore  taken  a  copy  of  it  (omitting  names)  for  the  purpose 
of  showing  it  to  me,  and  getting  me  —  I  was  so  qualified,  and 
so  clever  at  my  pen,  and  all  that  sort  of  thing — just  to  under- 
take, if  I  only  would,  to  throw  upon  paper  just  the  kind  of 
sketch  of  the  kind  of  answer  that  ought  to  be  returned." 

The  preface  over,  she  opened  her  reticule  and  handed  me  a 
copy  of  my  own  composition.  I  would  have  declined  the 
task,  but  every  excuse  I  suggested  was  overruled.  The  prin- 
cipal objection — my  previous  retainer  on  the  other  side  —  I 
could  not  in  honor  reveal ;  and  I  was  accordingly  installed  in 
the  rather  ludicrous  office  of  conducting  counsel  to  both  par- 
ties in  the  suit.  I  shall  not  weary  the  reader  with  a  technical 
detail  of  the  pleadings,  all  of  which  I  drew.  They  proceeded, 
if  I  remember  right,  as  far  as  a  sur-rehutter — rather  an  unusual 
thing  in  modern  practice.  Each  of  the  parties  throughout  the 
correspondence  was  charmed  with  the  elegance  and  correct- 
ness of  the  other's  style.  Shanahan  frequently  observed  to 
me,  "  What  a  singular  thing  it  was  that  Miss  Dickson  was  so 
much  cleverer  at  her  pen  than  her  tongue ;"  and  once  upon 
handing  me  a  letter,  of  which  the  eloquence  was  perhaps  a 
little  too  masculine,  he  protested  "  that  he  was  almost  afraid 
to  go  farther  in  the  business,  for  he  suspected  that  a  girl  who 
could  express  herself  so  powerfully  on  paper  would,  one  day 
or  other,  prove  too  much  for  him  when  she  became  his  wife." 
But,  to  conclude,  Shanahan  obtained  the  lady,  and  the  lease 
for  lives  renewable  for  ever.  The  seduction  case  (as  I  after- 
ward  discovered)  had  been  compromised   the  day  before  he 


166  CONFESSIONS    OF   A   JUNIOR    BARRISTEK. 

offered  me  the  statement ;  and  from  that  day  to  this,  though 
his  business  increased  with  his  marriage,  he  never  sent  me  a 
single  brief.* 

Finding  that  nothing  was  to  be  got  by  making  public 
speeches,  or  writing  love-letters  for  attorneys,  and  having  now 
idled  away  some  valuable  years,  I  began  to  think  of  attending 
sedulously  to  my  profession ;  and,  with  a  view  to  the  regula- 
tion of  my  exertions,  lost  no  opportunity  of  inquiring  into  the 
nature  of  the  particular  qualifications  by  which  the  men  whom 
I  saAV  eminent  or  rising  around  me  had  originally  outstripped 
their  competitors.  In  the  course  of  these  inquiries,  I  discov- 
ered that  there  was  a  newly-invented  method  of  getting  rap- 
idly into  business,  of  which  I  had  never  heard  before.  The 
secret  was  communicated  to  me  by  a  friend,  a  king's  counsel, 
who  is  no  longer  at  the  Irish  Bar.  When  I  asked  him  for  his 
opinion  as  to  the  course  of  study  and  conduct  most  advisable 
to  be  pursued,  and  at  the  same  time  sketched  the  general 
plan  which  had  presented  itself  to  me,  "  Has  it  never  struck 
you,"  said  he,  "  since  you  have  walked  this  Hall,  that  there  is 
a  shorter  and  a  far  more  certain  road  to  professional  success  1" 
I  professed  my  ignorance  of  the  particular  method  to  which  he 
alluded.  "  It  requires,"  he  continued,  "  some  peculiar  qualifi- 
cations :  have  you  an  ear  for  music  ?"  —  Surprised  at  the  ques- 
tion, I  answered  that  I  had.  "And  a  good  voice?"  —  "A 
tolerable  one."  —  ''Then,  my  advice  to  you  is,  to  take  a  few 
lessons  in  psalm-singing  ;  attend  the  Bethesda  regularly ;  take 
a  part  in  the  anthem,  and  the  louder  the  better ;  turn  up  as 
much  of  the  white  of  your  eyes  as  possible  —  and  in  less  than 
six  months  you'll  find  business  pouring  in  upon  you.  You 
smile,  I  see,  at  this  advice ;  but  I  have  never  known  the  plan 
to  fail,  except  where  the  party  has  sung  incurably  out  of  tune. 
Don't  you  perceive  that  we  are  once  more  becoming  an  Island 
of  Saints,  and  that  half  the  business  of  these  Courts  passes 
through  their  hands'?     When  I  came  to  the  bar,  a  man's  suc- 

*  This  attorney's  non-committal  caution  reminds  me  of  another  of  the  craft, 
who  challenged  a  man  to  fight  a  duel  with  him,  and  fixed  the  meeting,  "  in  tho 
Phoeni^  Park,  adjacent  unto  the  city  of  Dublin,  and  in  that  part  of  it  entitled 
*  Thb  Fifteen  Acres' — be  the  same  more  or  less." — M. 


DRAWING   WATEK   IN    A   SIEVE.  167 

cess  depended  upon  his  exertions  during  the  six  working-days 
of  the  week ;  but  now,  he  that  has  the  dexterity  to  turn  the 
Sabbath  to  account  is  the  surest  to  prosper :  and 

"  «  Why  should  not  piety  be  made, 
As  well  as  equity,  a  trade, 
And  men  get  money  by  devotion 
As  well  as  making  of  a  motion  ?'  " 

These  hints,  though  thrown  out  with  an  air  of  jest,  made 
some  impression  on  me ;  but  after  reflecting  for  some  time 
upon  the  subject,  and  taking  an  impartial  view  of  my  powers 
in  that  way,  I  despaired  of  having  hypocrisy  enough  for  the 
speculation,  so  I  gave  it  up.  Nothing  therefore  remaining, 
but  a  more  direct  and  laborious  scheme,  I  now  planned  a 
course  of  study  in  which  I  made  a  solemn  vow  to  myself  to 
persevere.  Besides  attending  the  courts  and  taking  notes  of 
the  proceedings,  I  studied  at  home,  at  an  average  of  eight 
hours  a-day.  I  never  looked  into  any  but  a  law-book.  Even 
a  newspaper  I  seldom  took  up.  Every  thing  that  could  touch 
my  feelings  or  my  imagination  I  excluded  from  my  thoughts, 
as  inimical  to  the  habits  of  mindj  now  was  anxious  to  acquire. 
My  circle  of  private  acquaintances  was  extensive,  but  I  man- 
fully resisted  every  invitation  to  their  houses.  I  had  assigned 
myself  a  daily  task  to  perform,  and  to  perform  it  I  was  deter- 
mined. I  persevered  for  two  years  with  exemplary  courage. 
Neither  the  constant,  unvarying,  unrewarded  labors  of  the 
day,  nor  the  cheerless  solitude  of  the  evenings,  could  induce 
me  to  relax  my  efforts. 

I  was  not,  however,  insensible  to  the  disheartening  change, 
both  physical  and  moral,  that  was  going  on  within  me.  All 
the  generous  emotions  of  my  youth,  my  sympathies  with  the 
rights  and  interests  of  the  human  race,  my  taste  for  letters, 
even  my  social  sensibilities,  were  perceptibly  wasting  away 
from  want  of  exercise,  and  from  the  hostile  influence  of  an 
exclusive  and  chilling  occupation.  It  fared  still  worse  with 
my  health  :  I  lost  my  appetite  and  rest,  and  oi^^  course  my 
strength  ;  a  deadly  pallor  overcast  my  features  ;  black  circles 
formed  round  my  eyes ;  my  cheeks  sank  in ;  the  tones  of  my 
voice  became  feeble  and  melancholy  ;   the  slightest  exercise 


168  CONFESSIONS   OF    A   JUNIOK   BARRISTER. 

exhausted  me  almost  to  fainting ;  at  night  I  was  tortured  by 
headaches,  palpitations,  and  frightful  dreams;  my  waking 
reflections  were  equally  harassing.  I  now  deplored  the  sinis- 
ter ambition  that  had  propelled  me  into  a  scene  for  which,  in 
spite  of  all  my  self-love,  I  began  to  suspect  that  I  was  utterly 
unfitted.  I  recalled  the  bright  prospects  under  which  I  had 
entered  life,  and  passed  in  review  the  various  modes  in  which 
I  might  have  turned  my  resources  to  honorable  and  profit- 
able account.  The  contrast  was  fraught  with  anguish  and 
mortification. 

As  I  daily  returned  from  the  Courts,  scarcely  able  to  drag 
my  wearied  limbs  along,  but  still  attempting  to  look  as  alert 
and  cheerful  as  if  my  success  was  certain,  I  frequently  came 
across  some  of  my  college  contemporaries.  Such  meetings 
always  gave  me  pain.  Some  of  them  were  rising  in  the  army, 
others  in  the  church  ;  others,  by  a  well-timed  exercise  of  their 
talents,  were  acquiring  a  fair  portion  of  pecuniary  competence 
and  literary  fame.  They  all  seemed  happy  and  thriving,  con- 
tented with  themselves  and  with  all  around  them ;  while  here 
was  I,  wearing  myself  down  to  a  phantom  in  a  dreary  and 
profitless  pursuit,  the  best  years  of  my  youth  already  gone, 
absolutely  gone  for  nothing,  and  the  prospect  overshadowed 
by  a  deeper  gloom  with  every  step  that  I  advanced.  The 
friends  whom  I  thus  met  inquired  with  good-nature  after  my 
concerns ;  but  I  had  no  longer  the  heart  to  talk  of  myself.  I 
broke  abruptly  from  them,  and  hurried  home  to  picture  to  my 
now  morbid  imagination  the  forlorn  condition  of  the  evening 
of  life  to  a  briefless  barrister.  How  often,  at  this  period,  I 
regretted  that  I  had  not  chosen  the  English  Bar,  as  I  had 
more  than  once  been  advised.  There,  if  I  had  not  prospered, 
my  want  of  success  would  have  been  comparatively  unob- 
served. In  London  I  should,  at  the  worst,  have  enjoyed  the 
immunities  of  obscurity  ;  but  here  my  failure  would  be  exposed 
to  the  most  humiliating  publicity.  Here  I  was  to  be  doomed, 
day  after  day  and  year  after  year,  to  exhibit  myself  in  places 
of  public  resort,  and  advertise,  in  my  own  person,  the  disap- 
pointment of  all  my  hopes. 

These   gloomy    reflections    were   occasionally  relieved   by 


1 


HOPELESSNESS.  169 

others  of  a  more  soothing  and  philosophic  cast.  The  catas- 
trophe, at  the  prospect  of  which  I  shuddered,  it  was  still  in 
my  own  pow6r  to  avert.  The  sufferings  that  I  endured  were, 
after  all,  the  factitious  growth  of  an  unwise  ambition.  I  was 
still  young  and  indep'endent,  and  might,  by  one  manly  effort, 
sever  myself  for  ever  from  the  spell  that  bound  me ;  I  might 
transport  myself  to  some  distant  scene,  and  find  in  tranquillity 
and  letters  an  asylum  from  the  feverish  cares  that  now  bore  me 
down.  The  thought  was  full  of  comfort,  and  I  loved  to  return 
to  it.  I  reviewed  the  different  countries  in  which  such  a  rest- 
ing-place might  best  be  found,  and  was  not  long  in  making  a 
selection.  Switzerland,  with  her  lakes  and  hills,  and  moral 
and  poetic  associations,  rose  before  me :  there  inhabiting  a 
delightful  cottage  on  the  margin  of  one  of  her  lakes,  and 
emancipated  from  the  conventional  inquietudes  that  now 
oppressed  me,  I  should  find  my  health  and  my  healthy 
sympathies  revive. 

In  my  present  frame  of  mind,  the  charms  of  such  a  philo- 
sophic retreat  were  irresistible.  I  determined  to  bid  an  eter- 
nal adieu  to  demurrers  and  special  contracts,  and  had  already 
fixed  upon  the  time  for  executing  my  project,  when  an  unex- 
pected obstacle  interposed.  My  sole  means  of  support  was 
the  profit-rent,  of  which  I  have  already  spoken.  The  land, 
out  of  which  it  arose,  lay  in  one  of  the  insurrectionary  dis- 
tricts ;  and  a  letter  from  my  agent  in  the  country  announced 
that  not  a  shilling  of  it  could  be  collected.  In  the  state  of 
nervous  exhaustion  to  which  the  "  blue  books"  and  the  blue 
devils  had  reduced  me,  I  had  no  strength  to  meet  this  unex- 
pected blow.  To  the  pangs  of  disappointed  ambition  were 
now  added  the  horrors  of  sudden  and  hopeless  poverty.  I 
sank  almost  without  a  struggle,  and  becoming  seriously  indis- 
posed, was  confined  to  my  bed  for  a  week,  and  for  more  than 
a  month  to  the  house. 

When  I  was  able  to  crawl  out,  I  moved  mechanically  toward 
the  Courts.  On  entering  the  Hall,  I  met  my  friend,  the  king's 
counsel,  who  had  formerly  advised  the  Bethesda  :  he  was 
struck  by  my  altered  appearance,  inquired  with  much  concern 
into  the  particulars  of  my  recent  illness,  of  which  he  had  not 

Vol.  II.— 8 


170  CONFESSIONS   OF   A   JUNIOR   BARRISTER. 

heard  before,  and,  urging  tlie  importance  of  change  of  air, 
insisted  that  I  should  accompany  him  to  pass  a  short  vacation 
then  at  hand  at  his  country-house  in  the  vicinity  of  Dublin. 
The  day  after  my  arrival  there,  I  received  a  second  letter 
from  my  agent,  containing  a  remittance,  aud  holding  out  more 
encouraging  prospects  for  the  future.  After  this  I  recovered 
wonderfully,  both  in  health  and  in  spirits.  My  mind,  so  agi- 
tated of  late,  was  now,  all  at  once,  in  a  state  of  the  most  per- 
fect tranquillity  :  from  which  I  learned,  for  the  first  time,  that 
there  is  nothing  like  the  excitement  of  a  good  practical  blow 
(provided  you  recover  from  it)  for  putting  to  flight  a  host  of 
imaginary  cares.  I  could  moralize  at  some  length  on  this 
subject,  but  I  must  hasten  to  a  conclusion. 

The  day  before  our  return  to  town,  iny  friend  had  a  party 
of  Dublin  acquaintances  at  his  house  :   among  the  guests  was 

the  late  Mr.  D ,  an  old  attorney  in  considerable  business, 

and  his  daughter.  In  the  evening,  though  it  was  summer- 
time, we  had  a  dance.     I  led  out  Miss  D :    I  did  so,  I 

seriously  declare,  without  the  slightest  view  to  the  important 
consequences  that  ensued.  After  the  dance,  which  (I  remem- 
ber it  well)  was  to  the  favorite  and  far-famed  "  Leg-of-Mutton 
jig,"  I  took  my  partner  aside,  in  the  usual  way,  to  entertain 
her.  I  began  by  asking  if  "  she  was  not  fond  of  poetry  ?" 
She  demanded  "  why  I  asked  the  question  ?"  I  said,  "  Be- 
cause I  thought  I  could  perceive  it  in  the  expression  of  her 
eyes."  She  blushed,  *'  protested  I  must  be  flattering  her,  but 
admitted  that  she  was."  I  then  asked  "  if  she  did  not  think 
the  Corsair  a  charming  poem  ?"  She  answered,  **  Oh,  yes  !"  — 
"  And  would  not  she  like  to  be  living  in  one  of  the  Grecian 
islands'?"  —  "Oh,  indeed  she  would."  —  "Looking  upon  the 
blue  waters  of  the  Archipelago  and  the  setting  sun,  associated 
as  they  were  with  the  rest."  — "  How  delightful  it  would  be  !" 
exclaimed  she.  "  And  so  refreshing .'"  said  I.  I  thus  con- 
tinued till  we  were  summoned  to  another  set.  She  separated 
from  me  with  reluctance,  for  I  could  see  that  she  considered 
my  conversation  to  be  the  sublimest  thing  that  could  be. 

The  effect  of  the  impression  I  had  made  soon  appeared. 
Two  days  after,  I  received  a  brief  in  rather  an  important  case 


I 


REALITY   V.    ROMANCE.  171 

from  her  father's  office.  I  acquitted  myself  so  much  to  his 
satisfaction,  that  he  sent  me  another,  and  another,  and  finally- 
installed  me  as  one  of  his  standing  counsel  for  the  junior  husi- 
ness  of  his  office.  The  opportunities  thus  afforded  me  brought 
me  by  degrees  into  notice.  In  the  course  of  time,  general 
business  began  to  drop  in  upon  me,  and  has  latterly  been 
increasing  into  such  a  steady  stream,  that  I  am  now  inclined 
to  look  upon  my  final  success  as  secure. 

I  have  only  to  add,  that  the  twelve  years  I  have  passed  at 
the  Irish  Bar  have  worked  a  remarkable  change  in  some  of 
my  early  tastes  and  opinions.  I  no  longer,  for  instance, 
trouble  my  head  about  immortal  fame ;  and,  such  is  the  force 
of  habit,  have  brought  myself  to  look  upon  a  neatly-folded 
brief,  with  a  few  crisp  Bank-of-Ireland  notes  on  the  back  of  it, 
as,  beyond  all  controversy,  the  most  picturesque  object  upon 
which  the  human  eye  can  alight. 


LORD   MANNERS. 

On  the  31st  day  of  July,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1827,  Lord 
Manners,  the  late  Keeper  of  his  Majesty's  Irish  Conscience, 
hade  the  Irish  bar  farewell.*  .  The  scene  which  took  place 
upon  that  melancholy  occasion  deserves  to  be  recorded.  It 
being  understood  that  an  address  of  professional  condolence 
on  behalf  of  the  more  loyal  portion  of  the  bar  was  to  be  pro- 
nounced by  that  tender  enunciator  of  pathetic  sentiment,  the 
Attorney-General,  the  Court  of  Chancery  was  crowded  at  an 
early  hour.  The  members  of  the  Beef-Steak  Club,  with  coun- 
tenances in  which  it  was  difficult  to  determine  whether  their 
grief  at  the  anticipated  "  export"  from  Ireland,  or  the  traces 

*  Lord  Manners,  was  son  of  Lord  George  Manners,  of  the  Ducal  house  of 
Rutland.  He  was  born  in  1756,  was  educated  at  Cambridge,  where  he  obtained 
the  honor  of  being  fifth  wrangler,  and,  having  been  called  to  the  bar,  in  due 
time  became  Solicitor-General  to  the  Prince  of  Wales,  and  one  of  his  parlia- 
mentary adherents.  In  1802,  when  made  Solicitor-General  to  the  king,  he  was 
knighted.  In  1803  he  was  one  of  the  official  prosecutors  of  Colonel  Despai-d, 
tried  and  executed  for  high  treason.  He  was  made  one  of  the  Barons  of  the 
Exchequer  in  1805,  and  in  1807  was  raised  to  the  peerage,  on  being  appointed 
Lord-Chancellor  of  Ireland,  as  successor  to  Mr.  Ponsonby.  On  demanding  the 
Seals,  with  all  wonted  formality,  he  discovered  that  he  had  accidentally  left 
behind  him  the  authority  for  assuming  the  new  dignity !  Lord  Manners  held 
the  Irish  Chancellorship  for  twenty  years  —  until  July,  1827,  when  he  was  re- 
called, and  succeeded  by  Sir  Anthony  Hart.  As  an  equity  judge,  he  wanted 
capacity,  and  was  further  deficient,  by  being  a  decided  political  partisan.  Many 
of  his  judgments  were  reversed  by  the  House  of  Loi'ds,  and  nothing  but  the 
fact  that  he  was  ultra-Protestant  in  his  principles  could  have  retained  him,  so 
long,  in  a  position  where  the  general  opinion  of  the  profession  as  to  his  con- 
duct and  qualifications  was  contemptuous  in  the  extreme.  He  died  in  May^ 
1842,  aged  eighty-six. —  M. 


HIS    FKIENDSniP   FOR   MR.    SAURLS".  173 

of  their  multitudinous  convivialities,  enjoyed  a  predominance, 
filled  the  galleries  on  either  side.  Tlie  junior  aristocracy  of 
the  bar,  for  whom  the  circuits  have  few  attractions,  occupied 
the  body  of  the  court ;  while  the  multitude  of  King's  counsel, 
in  whom  his  Majesty  scarcely  finds  a  verification  of  the  divine 
saying  of  Solomon,  were  arrayed  along  the  benches,  where  it 
is  their  prerogative  to  sit,  in  the  enjoyment  of  that  leisure 
which  the  public  so  unfrequently  disturb.  The  assembly 
looked  exceedingly  dejected  and  blank.  A  competition  in 
sorrow  appeared  to  have  been  got  up  between  the  rival  admi- 
rers of  his  Lordship,  the  Pharisees  of  Leeson  and  the  Saddu- 
cees  of  the  Beef-Steak  Club.  "  The  Saints,"  however,  from 
their  habitual  longitude  of  visage,  and  the  natural  alliance  be- 
tween their  lugubrious  devotion  and  despair,  had  a  decided; 
advantage  over  the  statesmen  of  revelry  and  the  legislators 
of  song;  and  it  was  admitted  on  all  hands  that  Mr.  M'Kaskey 
should  yield  the  palm  of  condolence  to  a  certain  pious  Ser- 
geant, into  whom  the  whole  spirit  of  the  prophet  Jeremy  ap- 
peared to  have  been  infused. 

But  the  person  most  deserving  of  attention  was  Mr.  Saurin. 
Lord  Manners  had  been  his  intimate  associate  for  twenty  years. 
He  had,  upon  his  Lordship's  first  arrival  in  Ireland,  pre-occu- 
pied  his  mind  ;  he  took  advantage  of  his  opportunities  of  access, 
and,  having  crept  like  an  earwig  into  his  audience,  he  at  last 
effected  a  complete  lodgment  in  his  mind.  Mr.  Saurin  estab- 
lished a  masterdom  over  his  faculties,  and  gave  to  all  his  pas- 
sions the  direction  of  his  own.  A  very  close  intimacy  grew 
up  between  them,  which  years  of  intercourse  cemented  into 
regard.  They  were  seen  every  day  walking  together  to  the 
court,  with  that  easy  lounge  which  indicated  the  carelessness 
and  equality  of  their  friendship.  In  one  instance  only  had 
Lord  Manners  been  wanting  in  fidelity  to  his  companion.  He 
had  been  commissioned  to  inform  him  (at  least  he  was  himself 
six  months  before  apprized  of  the  intended  movement)  that 
Mr.  Plunket  would,  in  return  for  his  services  to  the  Adminis- 
tration, be  raised  to  the  office  of  Attorney-General  for  Ireland. 
Had  Mr.  Saurin  been  informed  of  this  determination,  he  might 
have  acted  more  wisely  than  he  did,  when,  in  a  fit  of  what  his 


174  LOED    MANNERS. 

advocates  have  been  pleased  to  call  magnanimity,  but  which 
was  nothing  else  than  a  parox3^sm  of  offended  arrogance,  he 
declined  the  Chief-Justiceship  of  the  King's  Bench  !  Lord 
Wellesley  took  him  at  his  word,  and  gave  him  no  opportunity 
to  retrace  his  steps.  He  w^ould  not,  at  all  events,  have  been 
taken  unawares.  Mr.  Saurin  is  not  conspicuous  for  his  tenden- 
cies to  forgiveness,  but  he  pardoned  the  person  in  whose  favor, 
of  all  others,  a  barrister  should  make  an  exception  from  his 
vindictive  habits.  Their  intercourse  was  renewed  ;  and  what- 
ever might  have  been  the  state  of  their  hearts,  their  arms  con- 
tinued to  be  linked  together.  This  intimacy  was  noted  by  the 
solicitors,  and,  although  deprived  of  his  official  power,  Mr. 
Saurin  retained  his  business*  and  the  importance  which  at- 
tends it. 

The  resignation,  therefore,  of  Lord  Manners,*  to  whose  court 
his  occupations  were  confined,  was  accounted  a  personal  mis- 
fortune to  himself.  From  the  peculiar  circumstances  in  which 
he  was  placed,  he  drew  the  general  notice  in  the  scene  of  sep- 
aration, and  was  an  object  of  interest  to  those  who,  without 
any  political  sympathy  or  aversion,  are  observers  of  feeling, 
and  students  of  the  human  heart.  In  justice  to  him  it  should 
be  stated  that  his  bearing  did  not  greatly  deviate  from  his  ordi- 
nary demeanor,  and  that  he  still  looked  the  character  which 
he  had  been  for  some  time  playing,  if  not  with  profit,  yet  not 
without  applause,  as  the  stoic  of  Orangeism,  and  the  Oato  of 
"  a  falling  state."  Not  that  he  appeared  altogether  insensible, 
but,  in  his  sympathies,  his  own  calamities  did  not  seem  to  have 
any  very  ostensible  share :   any  expression  of  a  melancholy 

*  He  was  succeeded  by  Sir  Anthony  Hart,  bom  in  1759  at  St  Kitt's,  in  the 
West  Indies.  He  was  once  a  Unitarian  preacher  at  Norwich  ;  went  to  the  En- 
glish bar ;  practised  in  equity  for  many  years,  and  with  such  success  that  he 
was  then  made  Master  of  the  Rolls,  succeeded  Sir  John  Leach  as  Vice-Chan- 
cellor  of  England,  in  April,  1827,  and  was  then  knighted.  In  Ireland  he  gave 
much  satisfaction,  by  reason  of  the  soundness  and  impartiality  of  his  judgments. 
He  literally  had  no  politics,  and  prided  himself  on  being  a  lawyer  and  nothing 
else  —  in  strong  contrast  to  his  predecessor,  who  was  a  political  partisan  and 
not  much  of  a  lawyer.  He  retired  from  office,  at  the  close  of  1830,  when  the 
Grey  Ministry  appointed  Plunket  to  succeed  him,  emd  died  December,  1831, 
aged  seventy-two. —  M. 


ME.    JOY.  175 

kind,  that  was  perceivable  througli  his  dark  and  Huguenot 
complexion,  seemed  to  arise  more  immediately  from  the  pains 
of  friendship  than  from  any  sentiment  in  more  direct  connec- 
tion with  himself. 

I  can  not  avoid  thinking,  however,  that  his  mind  must  have 
been  full  of  scorpion  recollections  :  there  was,  at  least,  one  in- 
cident which  must  have  deeply  stung  him.  Had  the  address 
to  Lord  Manners  been  pronounced  by  Mr.  Plunket,  Mr.  Saurin 
might  have  been  reconciled  to  the  representation  of  the  bar,  in 
the  person  of  a  man  who  had  long  approved  himself  his  supe- 
rior. But  to  see  his  own  proselyte  holding  the  place  to  which 
he  had  acquired  a  sort  of  prescriptive  right,  and  to  witness  in 
Henry  Joy  the  Attorney-General  to  a  Whig  Administration, 
while  he  was  himself  without  distinction  or  office,  was,  I  am 
sure,  a  source  of  corrosive  feelings,  and  must  have  pained  him 
to  the  core. 

It  would,  however,  have  been  a  misfortune  for  the  lovers  of 
ridicule,  if  any  man  except  Mr.  Joy  had  pronounced  the  ad- 
dress which  was  delivered  to  the  departing  Chancellor.  He  is 
a  great  master  of  mockery,  and  looks  a  realization  of  Goethe's 
Mephistophiles.  So  strong  is  his  addiction  to  that  species  of 
satire  which  is  contained  in  exaggerated  praise,  that  he  scarcely 
ever  resorts  to  any  other  species  of  vituperation.  Nature  has 
been  singularly  favorable  to  him.  His  short  and  upturned  nose 
is  admirably  calculated  to  toss  his  sarcasms  oif ;  his  piercing 
and  peering  eyes  gleam  and  flash  in  the  voluptuousness  of 
malice,  and  exhibit  the  keen  delight  with  which  he  revels  in 
ridicule  and  luxuriates  in  derision.  His  chin  is  protruded,  like 
that  of  the  Cynic  listening  to  St.  Paul,  in  Raphael's  Cartoon. 
His  muscles  are  full  of  flexibility,  and  are  capable  of  adapting 
themselves  to  every  modification  of  irony.  They  have  the 
advantage,  too,  of  being  covered  with  a  skin  that  dimples  into 
sneers  with  a  plastic  facility,  and  looks  like  a  manuscript  of 
Juvenal  found  in  the  ashy  libraries  of  Herculaneum.  In  this 
eminent  advocate,  such  an  assemblage  of  physiognomical 
qualifications  for  irony  are  united,  as  I  scarcely  think  the 
countenance  of  any  orator  in  the  ancient  city  of  Sardos  could 
have   presented.      His   face    was   an    admirable   commentary 


1Y6  LORD   MANNEKS. 

on  the  enormity  of  tlie  encomium  wliicli  he  was  deputed  to 
offer. 

The  "  Evening  Mail,"*  indeed,  the  official  organ  of  the  Or- 
ange faction  in  Ireland,  gives  a  somewhat  different  account  of 
this  amusing  exhibition.  "  Every  sound,"  says  that  graphic 
journalist,  "  was  hushed,  while  the  Attorney-General,  with  a 
tremulous  voice,  hut  Avith  a  feeling  and  emphasis  which  showed 
that  the  sentiments  expressed  came  directly  from  his  heart," 
and  so  forth.  Then  follows  the  address.  I  forbear  from  set- 
ting forth  the  whole  of  it,  but  select  a  single  sentence  :  "  We," 
said  Mr.  Joy,  "  can  not  but  admire  that  distinguished  ability, 
that  strict  impartiality,  and  that  unremitting  assiduity,  with 
which  you  have  discharged  the  various  duties  of  your  office." 
The  delivery  of  this  sentence  was  a  masterpiece  of  sarcastic 
recitation ;  and,  to  any  person  who  desired  to  become  a  profi- 
cient in  the  art  of  sneering,  of  which  Mr.  Joy  is  so  renowned  a 
professor,  afforded  an  invaluable  model. 

Cicero,  in  his  oratorical  treatise,  has  given  an  analysis  of 
the  manner  in  Avhich  certain  fine  fragments  of  eloquence  have 
been  delivered  ;  and  for  the  benefit  of  the  students  of  irony,  it 
may  not  be  improper  to  enter  with  some  minuteness  into  a 
detail  of  the  varieties  of  excellence  with  which  Mr.  Joy  pro- 
nounced this  flagitious  piece  of  panegyric.  With  this  view,  I 
shall  take  each  limb  of  the  sentence  apart.  — "  We  can  not  but 
admire:" — In  uttering  these  words,  he  gave  his  head  that 
slight  shake,  with  which  he  generally  announces  that  he  is 
about  to  let  loose  some  formidable  sarcasm.     He  paused  at  the 

*  The  Dublin  Evening  Mail,  long-  the  leading  ultra-Tory  and  ultra-Protestant 
newspaper  in  Ireland,  was  commenced  in  the  heat  of  the  agitation  on  the 
Catholic  question,  and  obtained  immediate  notoi'iety  and  influence,  by  means 
of  the  talent  and  vigor  with  which  it  was  conducted,  and  its  boldness  in  per- 
sonality. Curiously  enough,  the  proprietors  (brothers,  named  Sheehan),  had 
been  Catholics,  and  the  violence  of  their  Protestantism  was  greater  (on  that 
account?  —  for  who  so  violent  as  a  renegade  ?)  than  if  they  had  been  born  to 
it.  During  the  Session  of  Parliament,  Remmy  Sheehan  resided  in  London, 
very  much  in  the  cdnfidence  of  the  leaders  of  the  Tory  party,  and  his  corre- 
spondence in  the  Evening  Mail  often  anticipated  even  the  leading  London  pa- 
pers in  political  information.  The  Mail  still  flourishes — but  Remmy  Sheehan 
is  no  more.  It  was  said  that  he  returned  to  the  Catholic  faith,  before  he 
died. —  M. 


SARCASM   IN   DISGUISE.  177 

same  time,  as  if  he  felt  a  qualm  of  conscience  at  what  he  was 
about  to  speak  and  experienced  a  momentary  commiseration 
for  the  victim  of  his  cruel  commendations.  This  feeling  of 
compassion,  however,  only  lasted  for  an  instant,  and  he  as- 
sumed the  aspect  that  became  the  utterance  of  the  vituperative 
adulation  which  he  had  undertaken  to  inflict.  *'  We  can  not 
but  admire  the  distinguished  ability  :" — At  the  word  "ability" 
it  was  easy  to  perceive  that  he  could  with  difficulty  restrain  his 
sense  of  extravagance  from  breaking  into  laughter.  However, 
he  did  succeed  in  keeping  down  the  spirit  of  ridicule  within 
the  just  boundaries  of  derision.  At  the  same  time  he  convey- 
ed to  his  auditors  (the  Chancellor  excepted)  the  whole  train 
of  thought  that  was  passing  in  his  mind ;  and  by  the  magic 
of  his  countenance  recalled  a  series  of  amusing  recollections. 
It  was  impossible  to  look  at  him  without  remembering  the  ex- 
hibitions which  for  twenty  years  had  made  the  administration 
of  justice  inothe  Irish  Court  of  Chancery  the  subject  of  Lord 
Redesdale's  laughter,  and  of  John  Lord  Eldon's  tears.  He 
spoke  it  with  such  a  force  of  mockery,  that  he  at  once  brought  to 
the  mind  of  the  spectators  that  spirit  of  ignorant  self-sufficiency, 
and  presumptuous  precipitation,  with  which  Lord  Manners  dis- 
charged the  business  of  his  court.  A  hundred  cases  seemed 
to  rise  in  his  face.  Stackpoole  and  Stackpoole  appeared  in 
the  curl  of  his  lip ;  Blake  and  Foster  quivered  in  the  move- 
ment of  his  nostrils ;  Brossley  against  the  Corporation  of  Dub- 
lin appeared  in  his  tAvinkling  eyes;  and  "reversal"  seemed 
to  be  written  in  large  characters  between  his  brows.* 

The  next  sarcasm  which  this  unmerciful  adulator  proceeded 
to  apply,  turned  on  his  lordship's  selection  of  magistrates.     At 

*  All  these  were  important  cases,  which  Lord  Manners  decided  one  way, 
while  the  House  of  Lords,  assisted  by  the  judges  of  England,  on  appeal,  deci- 
ded that  he  was  wholly  and  almost  flagrantly  in  error. —  It  would  have  been  dif- 
ficult, I  suspect,  to  have  found  a  worse  equity  judge  than  Lord  Manners.  Some 
time  after  his  death,  while  I  was  going  over  these  Sketches  with  Mr.  Shell,  I 
asked  his  opinion  of  Lord  Manners.  His  reply  was  emphatic  enough: — "  Go 
out  into  the  street — pick  up  the  first  man  in  a  decent  coat,  who  is  able  to  givo 
correct  replies  to  any  three  onlinary  questions  you  may  put  to  him — put  that 
man  on  the  Lord-Chancellor's  scat,  in  Dublin,  and  he  must  make  a  better  judge 
than  Lord  Mamiers  was." — M. 

8* 


178  LORD   MANNERS. 

the  utterance  of  **  strict  impartiality,"  the  smile  of  Mr.  Joy 
gleamed  with  a  still  yellower  lustre  over  his  features,  and 
he  threw  his  countenance  into  so  expressive  a  grimace,  that 
the  whole  loyal,  but  pauper  magistracy  of  Ireland  was  brought 
at  once  to  my  view.  I  beheld  a  long  array  of  insolvent  jus- 
tices with  their  arms  out  at  the  elbows,  who  had  been  honored, 
by  virtue  of  their  Protestantism,  with  his  Majesty's  commission 
of  the  peace.* 

I  did  not  think  it  possible  for  the  powers  of  irony  to  go  be- 
yond this  last  achievement  of  the  Attorney-General,  until  ho 
came  to  talk  of  his  lordship's  unremitting  assiduity.  It  was 
well  known  to  every  man  at  the  Bar,  that  Lord  Manners  ab- 
horred his  occupations.  He  trembled  at  an  enthymem,  he 
sunk  under  a  sorites,  and  was  gored  by  the  horns  of  a  dilem- 

*  It  may  be  scarcely  worth  mention  —  but  I  may  as  well  state  that,  when  I 
lived  in  Ireland  (five-and-twenty  years  ago  :  ekeu  fugaces  anni .')  I  had  frequent 
occasion  to  notice  that  the  Catholics  preferred  going  before  a  Protestant  magis- 
trate, even  though  a  justice  of  their  own  persuasion  might  be  nearer  their  vicin- 
ity. When  I  was  a  boy,  I  passed  much  of  my  time  at  the  house  of  my  uncle, 
the  late  John  Shelton,  of  Rossmore,  in  my  native  county  of  Limerick,  and  I 
noticed  that  the  peasantry  always  brought  their  complaints  before  him  in  prefer- 
ence to  a  Catholic  Justice  of  the  Peace  who  lived  on  the  other  side  of  the 
mountain,  and  nearer  to  their  homes.  Their  complaint  was  that  their  own 
magistrate  "  was  too  severe,  entirely,  upon  them."  So,  a  few  years  after,  when 
I  was  at  school,  at  Fermoy,  in  the  county  of  Cork,  there  was  an  excellent  man, 
and  a  Catholic  (Thomas  Dennehy,  of  Belleview),  who  was  a  magistrate.  He 
lived  near  Carrigaline,  and  between  Glandalane  and  Fermoy,  but  the  peasantiy 
and  the  small  farmers  always  passed  him  by,  and  went  before  George  Walker, 
a  Protestant  magistrate.  I  ascertained  the  cause  —  the  Catholic  Justices  who 
were  "  few  and  far  between,"  were  so  much  exposed  to,  and  afraid  of,  censure, 
that  they  usually  inclined  a  trifle  toward  a  Protestant  complainant  or  defendant 
—  for  fear  that  they  should  be  suspected  of  partiality  toward  persons  of  their 
own  creed.— Perhaps  I  should  apologize  for  thus  bringing  my  own  experiences 
into  this  note ;  but,  when  I  resided,  as  a  child,  with  my  uncle,  the  magistrate, 
in  the  county  of  Limerick,  I  was  usually  thrust  into  the  library,  on  wet  days, 
being  accused  (very  unjustly,  of  course)  of  being  "a  troublesome  lad.'  This 
library  consisted  exclusively  of  a  complete  set  of  Walker's  Hibernian  Magazine, 
recording  Irish  history  during  the  time  of  the  Union,  as  well  as  many  years 
preceding  and  following  it,  and  the  repeated  pei'usal  of  these  magazines  made 
me  so  familiar  with  Irish  matters  that  I  recollect  nearly  all  they  told  me  —  which 
may  accoimt  for  the  particular  and  distinctive  details  which  I  have  put  into 
tliese  notes. —  M. 


AS   A   SPOETSMAN.  179 

ma.  His  irritability  in  court  was  the  subject  of  universal  com- 
plaint. He  seemed  to  labor  under  an  incapacity  of  fixing  his 
attention  for  any  continuity  of  time  to  any  given  matter  of 
meditation;  and  by  his  wriggling  in  his  seat  during  the  ad- 
mirable arguments  of  Mr.  Pennefather,  and  his  averted  eye, 
and  the  puffing  of  his  cheeks,  exhibited  his  strong  distaste  for 
reasoning,  and  the  horror  which  he  entertained  for  all  induc- 
tive thought.  It  was  in  frosty  weather  that  his  excitability 
and  fretfulness  of  temperament  were  particularly  conspicuous. 
He  was  fond  of  shooting,  and  if  he  was  detained  by  a  long 
argument  beyond  the  usual  period  which  he  allowed  to  the 
hearing  of  causes,  about  Christmas,  he  broke  out  into  fits  and 
starts  of  ludicrous  irritation.  Mr.  Plunket  used  to  say  that 
whenever  Lord  Manners  heard  the  name  of  Mr.  Hitchcock  (a 
gentleman  of  the  Irish  Bar  of  considerable  talents)  his  lordship 
used  to  start,  as  if  it  were  "  Hish  !  Cock!"  that  had  struck 
his  ear.  The  memory  of  the  Attorney-General,  in  compliment- 
ing him  on  his  "unremitting  assiduity,"  was,  I  am  sure,  car- 
I'ied  back  to  those  scenes  of  judicial  impatience,  in  which, 
when  the  mercury  stood  at  the  freezing  point,  his  lordship's 
intolerance  of  all  argument  was  exemplified.  The  look  with 
which  Mr.  Joy  executed  the  recitation  of  this  portion  of  his 
address,  was,  if  possible,  a  higher  feat.  It  was  the  chef-d^ ceuvre 
of  mockery,  and  masterpiece  of  derision.  His  eyes,  his  brows, 
his  nose  and  chin.  —  But  I  will  not  undertake  to  describe  him 
—  enough  to  say,  that  such  was  the  potency  of  his  sarcasm, 
that  I  was  transported  in  fancy  to  the  Duke  of  Leinster's  de- 
mesne at  Carton,  where  his  lordship  used  to  shoot,  and  I  be- 
held him  amid  those  brambles  of  which  he  was  much  fonder 
than  the  thorny  quicksets  of  the  law,  with  his  chancellor  hat, 
a  green  jacket,  a  scarlet  waistcoat,  silk  breeches,  and  long 
black  gaiters,  which  constituted  his  usual  sporting  attire. 

I  was,  however,  recalled  from  this  excursion  of  the  imagin- 
ation, by  the  farewell  address  of  his  lordship  to  the  Bar.  The 
Attorney-General  had  concluded,  and  Lord  Manners  rose  to  bid 
it  a  long  adieu.  It  did  him  great  credit  that  he  did  not  fol- 
low the  example  of  Lord  Redesdale,  who  wept  and  whimpered 
upon  his  taking  leave  of  Irelaud  and  ten  thousand  a  year. 


180  LOED    MANNERS. 

Lord  Manners  had  the  materials  of  consolation  in  his  pocket, 
having  received  about  two  hundred  thousand  pounds  of  the 
public  money,  for  "  the  distinguished  abilitj,  the  strict  impar- 
tiality, and  unremitting  assiduity,"  of  which  Mr.  Joy  had  per- 
formed the  panegyric.  So  far  from  indulging  in  any  lachry- 
matory mood,  his  lordship  proved  himself  a  partisan  to  the 
last,  by  giving  vent  to  his  factious  antipathies  against  the 
Solicitor-General.  He  had  strenuously  resisted  the  nomina- 
tion of  Mr.  Doherty  to  the  office,  for  which  his  talents  as  a 
speaker,  both  in  Parliament  and  at  the  Bar,  had  eminently 
qualified  him.  There  was  not  an  individual  of  the  profession, 
who  did  not  feel  convinced  that  Lord  Manners  was  actuated 
by  an  hostility  arising  from  political  motives,  founded  upon 
Mr.  Doherty's  support  of  Catholic  Emancipation. 

Nearly  the  last  sentence  in  his  address  is  copied  from  the 
Evening  Mail.  "  If,"  said  his  lordship,  "  I  have  disap- 
pointed or  delayed  the  expectations  of  any  gentleman  of  the 
Bar,  I  lament  it.  I  can  assure  you,  gentlemen,  I  have  not 
been  actuated  by  a  personal  motive,  or  hostile  feeling  against 
him,  but  by  a  sense  of  duty  imposed  on  me,  in  the  situation  in 
which  I  am  placed  to  protect  the  fair  claims  of  the  Bar,  by 
resisting,  to  the  utmost  of  my  power,  the  interference  of  par- 
liamentary or  political  interest  in  the  advancements  in  the 
law."  It  is  obvious  that  under  the  veil  of  affected  regret 
which  Lord  Manners  states  hitnself  to  have  felt  at  having, 
with  a  view  to  the  promotion  of  Sergeant  Lefroy,  opposed  the 
wishes  of  Mr.  Canning  and  the  directions  of  the  Cabinet,  there 
lurks  in  the  intimation  that  his  lordship  had  opposed  the  inter- 
ference of  parliamentary  and  political  interest,  a  reflection 
upon  Mr.  Doherty,  of  which  good  feeling,  as  well  as  a  sense 
of  justice,  should  have  forbidden  the  expression.  This  Par- 
thian arrow  should  not  have  been  discharged  at  such  a  mo- 
ment. It  was  not  a  time  for  the  indulgence  of  acrimonious 
feelings. 

But,  independently  of  the  factious  rancor  which  is  conveyed 
in  this  reference  to  Mr.  Doherty,  it  is  surprising  that  such  a 
want  of  ordinary  discretion  should  have  been  manifested  by 
an  individual  who  was  himself  so  obnoxious  to  the  unkind 


HIS    INCOMPETENCY.  181 

observation  with  which,  at  parting,  he  waiitonly  aspersed  the 
advancement  of  a  member  of  the  bar.  Lord  Manners  had 
objected  to  Mr.  Doherty  upon  the  ground  of  his  juniority. 
He  was  not,  himself,  of  as  long  standing  at  the  English  Bar 
when  he  was  created  Solicitor-General.  Mr.  Doherty  was  at 
the  head  of  his  circuit,  where  he  had  evinced  as  high  qualifi- 
cations as  a  speaker  as  any  gentleman  in  the  whole  profession. 
Lord  Manners  was  unemployed  at  the  bar,  except  when  he  got 
a  brief  from  his  brother-in-law,  a  solicitor  of  Lincoln's  Inn. 
Lord  Manners'  objection  to  the  exercise  of  parliamentary  or 
political  interest  seems  to  be  equally  strange.  What  but  the 
power  of  the  house  of  Rutland  could  ever  have  raised  a  man 
of  his  feeble  understanding  and  slight  acquirements  to  the 
office  of  Lord  Chancellor  of  L-eland,  to  the  discharge  of  whose 
duties  he  was  so  utterly  incompetent,  that  his  able  and  eru- 
dite successor  can  scarcely  refrain  from  expressing  astonish- 
ment at  the  spirit  of  blunder  in  which  almost  every  one  of 
Lord  Manners's  orders,  which  came  before  him  for  revision,  is 
conceived  ? 

After  Lord  Manners  had  delivered  his  valedictory  commem- 
oration of  his  own  deserts,  he  proceeded  to  his  house  in  Ste- 
phen's Green,*  for  the  purpose  of  receiving  a  deputation  from 
the  Corporation  of  Dublin,  between  whom  and  his  Lordship 
twenty  years  of  devoted  adherence  to  the  cause  of  loyal  mo- 
nopoly had  established  a  profound  sympathy.     The  Corpora- 

*  Stephen's  Green  is  a  square  in  Dublin,  an  Irish  mile  in  circumference,  if 
you  walk  round  it  by  the  houses :  an  English  mile,  if  you  measui'e  by  the  cir- 
cumference of  the  area  within  surrounded  by  iron  railings.  I  should  mention 
that  Irish  longitudinal  exceed  English  miles,  in  the  proportion  of  11  of  the 
former,  to  14  of  the  latter. —  Miss  Edgeworth  told  a  story  of  a  traveller  who 
complained  to  a  Paddy,  of  the  narrowness  of  the  roads.  "  True  enough,"  said 
Pat,  "  but  what  you  lose  in  the  breadth,  you  gain  in  the  length^  In  my  time 
the  roads  were  excellent  and  not  deficient  in  width.  The  system  of  Macad- 
amization,  as  it  is  barbarously  called,  was  practised  on  the  Irish  turnpike  roads 
a  hundred  years  before  a  "  canny  Scot"  filched  it,  from  Ireland,  and  made  a  for- 
tune out  of,  and  won  a  title  from,  John  Bull,  by  passing  it  off  as  his  own  dis- 
covery. In  1847,  under  the  Labor  Expenditm-e  system,  some  of  the  finest 
roads  in  Ireland  were  torn  up,  under  the  idea  of  improving  them,  and,  the  funds 
failing,  before  the  "  improvements"  commenced,  the  poor  roads  were  left  in 
the  ruined  condition  to  which  they  had  been  reduced  ! —  M. 


182  LORD   MANNERS. 

tion  of  Dublin,  it  must  be  on  all  bands  admitted,  were  under 
extraordinary  obligations  to  Lord  Manners  :  a  deficiency  in 
tbeir  accounts  to  tbe  amount  of  upward  of  forty  tbousand 
pounds  had  been  tbe  subject  of  a  bill  in  Chancery,  at  the  suit 
of  Mr.  Brosfeley,  who,  at  the  instance  of  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, had  taken  proceedings  in  order  to  compel  them  to 
disgorge  the  produce  of  their  systematic  extortion  from  the 
citizens  of  Dublin.  To  the  astonishment  of  the  whole  Bar, 
Lord  Manners  refused  all  relief  I  well  remember  the  indig- 
nation of  Mr.  Plunket,  when  the  Chancellor  pronounced  his 
decree.  He  shook  bis  hand  in  mingled  scorn  for  his  intel- 
lect, and  anger  at  the  everlasting  effrontery  of  the  decision. 
The  decree  has  been  since  opprobriously  reversed  in  the 
House  of  Lords. 

But  the  Corporation  were  grateful  for  the  manifestations  of 
his  Lordship's  good-will ;  and  accordingly  on  the  day  of  his 
departure,  and  after  he  had  taken  his  farewell  of  the  bar, 
the  Lord-Mayor,  the  sheriffs,  and  Sir  Abraham  Bradley  King, 
together  with  a  train  of  civic  baronets  and  knights,  with  whom 
his  Majesty  has  repaired  the  exhausted  aristocracy  of  Ireland, 
waited  upon  Lord  Manners.  The  following  is  an  extract  from 
their  address,  taken  from  the  faithful  record,  from  which  a 
relation  has  been  already  made  :  "  We  are  not  insensible  that 
by  your  undeviating  loyalty  to  your  Sovereign,  and  attach- 
ment to  the  true  and  genuine  principles  of  an  unrivalled  Con- 
stitution in  Church  aud  State,  you  have  been  exposed  to  the 
malignant  attacks  of  base  and  dastardly  demagogues,  upheld 
by  the  vile  vituperations  of  a  licentious  press." 

The  Evening  Mail  proceeds  to  state,  that  after  the  Town- 
Clerk  had  concluded  (for  it  seems  that  a  Lord-Mayor  does  not 
enjoy  the  advantages  of  Dogberry,  and  that  reading  and 
writing  do  not  come  to  him  by  nature),  his  Lordship  placed  his 
hand  upon  his  heart,  and  read  the  following  answer :  "  After 
a  residence  of  upward  of  twenty  years  in  your  capital,  where 
my  conduct  in  public  and  private  life  must  be  well  known  to 
you,  this  mark  of  approbation  from  the  highly-respectable  and 
loyal  Corporation  of  the  City  of  Dublin  can  not  fail  to  be 
extremely  gratifying  to  me :   I  receive  it  with  pleasure,  and 


HIS    SELF-DELUSION.  183 

shall  remember  it  with  gratitude.  If  I  have  any  claim  to  be 
distinguished  by  you,  it  must  arise  from  my  having  anxiously 
confined  myself  to' the  judicial  duties  of  my  office,  and  care- 
fully abstained,  as  far  as  was  consistent  with  the  trust  reposed 
in  me,  from  interfering  in  party  or  political  topics.  This  line 
of  conduct  has  justified  me  in  the  consideration  of  your  consti- 
tutional body,  and  may,  in  some  degree,  have  entitled  me  to 
those  expressions  of  kindness  and  good  opinion  which  accom- 
pany your  address,  and  for  which  I  return  you  my  warmest 
acknowledgments.  I  do  assure  you,  my  Lord-Mayor  and  gen- 
tlemen, I  shall  always  feel  a  strong  interest  in  the  prosperity 
of  your  Corporation,  and  a  grateful  sense  of  the  obligations  I 
owe  to  Ireland." 

The  Evening  Mail  mentions  that  the  Chancellor  then 
handed  the  address  to  the  Lord-Mayor;  but  it  omits  to  record 
that  the  worthy  functionary  stood  before  the  Chancellor  in  a 
state  of  cataleptic  astonishment.  The  whole  of  his  attendants, 
from  the  High-Sheriffs  down  to  the  E,ev.  Tighe  Gregory,  and 
Mr.  David  M'Cleary,  the  oratorical  tailor,  who  cut  out  Sir 
Abraham  Bradley's  surtout,  participated  in  the  feeling  of  the 
Lord-Mayor,  and  stood  with  their  eyes  fixed  upon  the  Chancel- 
lor, like  the  statues  of  amazement  in  all  its  different  forms.* 

The  assurance  given  by  his  Lordship  that  he  had  never 
interfered  in  politics,  struck  them  into  stupefaction.  Lord 
Manners  was  at  a  loss  to  account  for  this  phenomenon,  and 
vainly  endeavored  to  rouse  the  Lord-Mayor  from  the  influ- 
ences of  wonder  to  a  consciousness  of  external  objects.  He 
placed  the  address  in  his  hand,  but  it  dropped  out  of  it.     He 

*  Sir  A.  B.  King,  Dr.  Gregory,  and  Davy  M'Clear)',  were  members  of  the  Corpo- 
ration of  Dublin,  in  those  days,  and  (as  such)  violent  partisans  and  poliiiciaus. 
King  was  Stationer  to  the  Crown,  and  the  Grey  Ministiy  broke  his  patent, 
thereby  annulling  the  lucrative  appointment.  King,  nearly  ruined,  and  half 
heart-broken,  went  to  O'Connell,  against  whom  he  had  been  making  speeches 
for  twenty  years,  and  placed  himself  and  his  case  in  the  hands  of  his  old  oppo- 
nent. O'Connell  devoted  himself  to  the  matter,  obtained  a  pension  of  twelve 
hundred  pounds  sterling,  for  King-,  as  compensation,  and  the  Orangeman's 
death-bed  words  were  of  gratitude  to  O'Connell.  M'Cleary  is  also  dead. 
Gregory  got  a  rich  living  in  Ireland,  and  expecting  no  more  gain  by  politics,  is 
now  a  rational  man. —  M. 


184  LOKD   MANNERS. 

adopted  various  other  expedients,  but  in  vain.  At  length,  how- 
ever, he  bethought  himself  of  an  artifice,  which  was  attended 
with  instantaneous  success ;  and,  as  the  Evening  Mail  has  it, 
"Jnvited  the  Lord  Mayor  and  Corporation  to  partake  of  a 
collation  prepared  for  them."  The  doors  of  an  adjoining  room 
were  thrown  open,  and  the  moment  the  enchanting  spectacle 
which  was  presented  by  a  splendid  banquet  was  disclosed,  at 
the  sight  of  "  cold  meats,  fowls,  turkeys"  (they  are  thus  enu- 
merated in  the  gazette  of  loyalty),  the  effect  was  sudden  and 
complete;  they  recovered  at  once  from  the  petrifying  power 
of  astonishment,  and  precipitated  themselves  upon  the  viands 
which  were  prepared  for  them,  with  a  voracity  which  well 
became  "  the  ancient,  loyal,"  hungry,  and  bankrupt  Corpora- 
tion of  Dublin.* 

*  It  was  for  calling  it  "  a  beggarly  Corporation,"  in  1815,  that  Mr   D'Esterre 
challenged  Mr.  O'Connell  —  which  ended  in  his  own  death. —  M. 


THE   MANNERS   TESTIMONIAL. 

Certain  of  the  bar,  consisting,  to  a  great  extent,  of  the  eter- 
nal perambulators  of  the  Hall,  have  recently  subscribed  for  a 
piece  of  plate,  which  is  to  be  called  "  The  Manners  Testimo- 
nial, or  Forensic  Souvenir."  It  was  originally  intended  to 
throw  the  contributions  of  the  profession  into  a  silver  cup,  where- 
with his  Lordship  might  deeply  drink  to  the  memory  of  King 
William  and  to  the  oblivion  of  himself;  but  it  was  discovered 
that  this  ingenious  idea  had  been  forestalled  by  the  Corpora- 
tion, and  it  was  determined,  after  mature  consultation,  to  pre- 
sent the  late  Chancellor  with  a  massive  salver,  upon  which  the 
principal  incidents  of  his  life  should  be  represented.  For  the 
jpurpose  of  completing  the  commemorative  donation,  it  became 
necessary  to  impose  a  new  rate  upon  the  loyalty  of  the  bar. 
To  this  proposition  the  Commissioners  of  Bankrupts,  notwith- 
standing their  obligations  to  his  Lordship,  Avere  at  first  strenu- 
ously opposed,  not  a  single  docket  having  been  lately  struck  ; 
but  upon  the  change  of  Ministry,  a  rumor  having  gone  abroad 
that  Lord  Manners  was  to  return  to  administer  justice,  as  he 
always  did,  indifferently  in  Ireland,  the  prudential  objections 
of  the  judicial  dignitaries  of  the  Royal  Exchange  were  laid 
aside.  A  sufficient  fund  has  been  collected,  after  a  good  deal 
of  application  to  the  political  virtue  and  individual  gratitude 
of  the  friends  and  admirers  of  Lord  Manners,  and  a  very  fine 
piece  of  plate  has  been  produced.  It  is  not  as  yet  quite  fin- 
ished ;  but,  through  the  interest  of  Sergeant  Lefroy  with  the 
pious  silversmith  to  whom  it  has  been  intrusted,  I  have  suc- 
ceeded in  obtaining  an  inspection.  The  salver  contains,  in 
exquisite  relief,  a  record  of  the  chief  adventures  of  his  Lord- 


186  THE   MANNERS    TESTIMONIAL. 

ship's  judicial  and  political  life,  together  with  an  exemplifica- 
tion of  the  most  characteristic  traits  of  his  character.  If  a 
contemporaneous  commentary  were  not  published,  the  figures 
which  are  introduced  into  this  memorial  of  legal  sensibility 
might  hereafter  afford  as  much  matter  for  skeptical  speculation 
as  the  celebrated  shield  in  '*  Martinus  Scrihlerus"  With  a 
view,  therefore,  to  assist  the  curiosity  of  future  antiquarians, 
some  account  of  "  The  Manners  Testimonial,  or  Forensic  Sou- 
venir," will  be  briefly  given. 

Upon  the  border,  the  busts  of  the  most  celebrated  members 
of  the  bar,  who  have  been  most  conspicuous  in  "  getting  the 
thing  up,"  are  admirably  embossed.     Mr.  Whyte  occupies,  of 
necessity,  a  very  considerable  space  in  this  part  of  the  testi- 
monial.    A  good  deal  of  dead  silver  has  been  employed  in 
doing  him  justice.     Exactly  opposite  to  Mr.  Whyte,  Mr.  Peter 
Fitzgibbon  Henchey  appears  with  that  look  of  egregious  dig- 
nity which  is  peculiar  to  him.     I  am,  however,  inclined  to  think 
that  the  artist  did  not  seize  him  at  the  most  felicitous  moment, 
for  there  is  a  touch  of  sadness  in  his  importance.     Perhaps  the 
funds  had  sustained  some  sud-den  declination  at  the  time ;  and 
the  battle  of  Navarino  has  left  its  traces  on  his  brow :  or,  per- 
adventure  (and  that  were  the  more  amiable  hypothesis),  Mm 
Henchey  has  discovered  in   Sir  Anthony  Hart  a  lamentable 
inferiority  to  his  discriminating  predecessor,  and  an  unconsti- 
tutional disposition  to  lend  an  equal  attention  to  the  Catholics 
of  the  outer  and  to  the  Protestants  of  the  inner  bar.     The  rest 
of  the  heads  that  form  a  border  to  the  testimonial  are  very  ex- 
actly copied  from  most  of  the  King's  counsel,  whom  Lord  Man- 
ners left   as  an  appropriate  deposite  behind  him,     I   do  not 
know   why  Mr.  Perrin   and   Mr.  Richard  Moore  have  been 
omitted. 

But  it  is  upon  the  reliefs  in  the  body  of  the  salver  that  the 
greatest  skill  has  been  displayed  both  in  execution  and  in  de- 
sign. A  series  of  beautiful  biographical  illustrations  has  been 
introduced,  in  the  first  of  which  Lord  Manners  appears,  at  the 
English  bar,  with  an  empty  bag.  In  the  background,  the  Min- 
ister is  perceived  eying  him  from  a  distance ;  while  the  Duke 
of  Portland,  who  secnm  to  be   engaged  in  earnest  discourse 


LOED   MANNEKS   AND   THE   JESUITS.  187 

with  the  official  detector  of  latent  desert,  points  with  one  hand 
to  the  House  of  Commons,  and  with  the  other  to  the  Bench. 

In  the  next  scene  his  Lordship  is  represented,  in  the  enact- 
ment of  the  part  of  Baron  Manners  at  the  Assizes  of  Lancaster, 
trying  the  case  of  Weld  v.  Hornby  (reported  in  7  East  195), 
when  his  Lordship  delivered  an  illegal  but  constitutional  charge 
against  the  Jesuits  of  Stonyhurst.  The  case  involved  the  right 
of  the  Jesuits  to  fish  in  the  river  Ribble,  and  it  is  surprising 
what  an  early  zeal  in  the  cause  of  Protestantism  was  displayed 
by  the  puisne  Baron,  who  was  afterward  intrusted  with  the 
selection  of  impartial  magistrates  in  Ireland.  In  the  execution 
of  this  relief,  great  ingenuity  has  been  evinced.  I  can  not, 
however,  say  that  the  workmanship  has  surpassed  the  mate- 
rials. The  courthouse  is  filled  with  Jesuits.  They  are  with- 
out their  caps  and  gowns,  which  at  Stonyhurst  they,  did  not 
presume  to  wear,  although  at  Clongowes  Wood,  under  Mr. 
O'Oonnell's  advice,  and  the  Solicitor-General's  opinion,  the 
body-guard  of  the  Pope  appear  in  full  regimentals.  Notwith- 
standing the  want  of  the  insignia  of  Loyolism,  it  is  easy,  from 
the  expression  of  their  faces,  to  detect  the  disciples  of  Ignatius. 
I  recognise  the  deeply -furrowed  face  of  Mr.  Plowden,*  in  which 
time  never  could  succeed  in  impairing  the  powerful  St.  Omer's 
physiognomy,  for  which  he  was  remarkable.  The  likeness  is 
so  faithful,  that  I  am  disposed  to  think  that  Mr.  Cruize,  who 
sprang  out  of  the  hot-bed  of  orthodoxy,  must  have  supplied  the 
artist  with  a  sketch  of  his  old  confessor.  The  very  able  chair- 
man of  the  county  of  Clare,  together  with  Mr.  Nicholas  Ball, 
who  is  rising  so  rapidly  to  the  first  eminence  at  the  bar,  are 
represented  among  a  group  of  boys  in  the  gallery  of  the  court- 
house. I  think  that  I  can  also  discover,  in  an  acrimonious- 
looking  urchin,  who  is  taking  down  a  note  of  Baron  Manners' 
charge,  the  face  of  Mr.  Sheil.  The  Judge  is  in  the  act  of  addres- 
sing the  jury,  with  strong  indications  of  loyal  excitement,  over 

*  The  late  Fi*ancis  Plowden  was  an  Irish  barrister,  author  of  a  History  of 
Ireland,  popular  in  his  day.  He  wrote  two  or  three  other  books,  chiefly  on  le- 
gal subjects.  He  was  sued  for  a  libel  in  his  History,  and  cast  in  five  tliousand 
pounds  sterling  damages,  rather  than  pay  which,  he  retired  to  France,  where 
he  died,  in  1825,  at  an  advanced  age. —  M. 


188  THE    MANNERS    TESTIMONIAL. 

the  "bencli  in  which  he  presides.  Tlie  artist  has  engraven  the 
significant  motto,  "  Qualis  ah  mccpto:'  In  the  perspective  there 
is  a  representation  of  the  English  Court  of  King's  Bench,  with 
Lord  EUenhorough  laughing  grimly  at  the  misdirections  of  the 
learned  Judge,  whose  verdict  he  is  in  the  act  of  ignominiously 
setting  aside.  Some  of  Lord  Manners's  friends  objected  to  the 
record  of  this  early  incident  in  his  judicial  story  ;  but  it  was 
answered  that  the  illegality  of  his  opinions  was  more  than 
counterbalanced  by  his  zeal  for  the  constitution,  and  that  the 
evidence  of  his  inveterate  Protestantism  should  be  preserved 
at  the  expense  of  his  legal  reputation.  It  was  besides  observed, 
and  with  reason,  that  however  his  judgment  might  be  obscured 
by  his  emotions,  yet  the  purity  of  his  intentions  could  not  be 
brought  into  question. 

After  .this  specimen  of  his  feats  upon  the  English  Bench,  the 
records  of  his  Irish  Chancellorship  appear.  He  is  represented, 
on  his  arrival  in  Ireland,  with  Mr.  Saurin  bidding  him  wel- 
come. An  earwig  is  seen  creeping  into  his  ear.  This  is  fol- 
lowed by  Lord  Manners  presiding  in  court :  Mr.  O'Connell  is 
addressing  him,  while  his  Lordship's  eye  is  averted,  and  his 
cheeks  are  filled  with  the  materials  of  a  puff,  which  the  learned 
Lord  is  preparing  to  discharge.  The  crier  of  the  court  is  seen 
lighting  the  fire  in  the  gallery,  and  throwing  Vesey  Junior  and 
tlie  Statutes  into  the  flames.  Various  views  of  impatient  adju- 
dication occupy  this  part  of  the  testimonial.  The  spirit  of  ju- 
dicial hurry,  for  which  his  Lordship  was  remarkable,  may  at 
first  view  appear  to  be  objectionable.  But  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that,  however  the  suitors  may  suffer,  the  counsel  are 
gainers  by  the  precipitation  of  a  Judge.  At  present,  for  ex- 
ample, Sir  Anthony  Hart  insists  that  due  consideration  shall 
be  given  to  every  cause  of  a  difficult  nature.  The  consequence 
is,  that  where  twelve  were  heard,  but  not  listened  to,  in  a  sin- 
gle day  by  Lord  Manners,  the  present  Chancellor  bestows  an 
equal  time  to  a  single  cause.  It  is  true  that  the  parties  are 
satisfied  by  his  decision,  and  the  occupation  of  Lord  E-edes- 
dale  in  the  House  of  Lords  seems  likely  to  be  gone ;  but  the 
counsel's  fees  are  in  proportion  diminished ;  the  crisp  paper  of 
the  Bank  of  Ireland  is  no  longer  seen  in  such  rapid  circulation 


JUDICIAL   MISDOINGS.  189 

througli  the  inner  bar ;  and  Sergeant  Lefroy  having  stated  his 
case  in  the  morning,  has  leisure  during  the  rest  of  the  day  to 
devote  himself  to  less  sublunary  pursuits,  and  may  exclaim 
with  Hamlet,  "  For  my  own  poor  part,  I  will  go  pray." 

I  do  not  think  it  necessary  to  go  through  the  whole  of  the 
reliefs  which  are  intended  to  illustrate  Lord  Manners's  judicial 
excellences.  Dow's  parliamentary  cases  contain  an  ample 
commentary  on  his  faculties.  One  scene,  however,  in  the  tes- 
timonial, relating  to  this  portion  of  his  Lordship's  character,  is 
deserving  of  mention.  I  allude  to  the  case  of  "  Pims,  minors." 
Lord  Manners  decided,  without  principle  or  precedent,  that 
the  infant  daughters  of  a  Catholic  mother  should  be  removed 
from  her  society  on  account  of  her  profession  of  the  illegal  reli- 
gion. The  artist  has  chosen  the  separation  of  Mrs.  Pirn  and 
of  her  family  for  the  manifestation  of  his  pathetic  powers. 
Lord  Manners  surveys  the  spectacle  of  domestic  anguish  with 
a  calm  philosophy,  in  the  expression  of  which  it  was  no  doubt 
intended  to  intimate  that  his  high  sense  of  public  duty  subdued 
in  his  Lordship's  mind  those  infirmities  to  which,  Avherever  the 
interests  of  Protestantism  were  concerned,  he  was  never  known, 
although  in  many  respects  a  kind  and  amiable  man,  to  give 
way. 

He  is  next  represented  in  his  capacity  of  Superintendent  of 
the  Magistracy  of  Ireland,  and  in  the  act  of  refusing  the  com- 
mission of  the  peace  to  Sir  Patrick  Bellew,  a  Koman  Catholic 
baronet  of  ancient  family,  and  of  considerable  fortune ;  while 
the  description  of  individuals  whom  he  considered  entitled  to 
that  important  trust  is  illustrated  by  a  group  of  pauper  justices 
in  the  county  of  Waterford,  who  are  seen  in  the  backgrotmd. 
One  would  at  first  take  them  to  be  a  corps  of  the  Mendicity 
Association ;  but  the  commission  of  the  peace,  which  is  seen 
sticking  out  of  the  rents  of  their  ragged  pockets,  indicates  their 
office ;  while  the  lilies  that  hang  from  their  tattered  shirts  are 
beautifully  emblematic  of  their  constitutional  qualifications. 

His  Lordship  next  appears  as  a  member  of  the  House  of 
Lords.  He  is  seen  addressing  his  brother-peers  on  the  trial  of 
the  Queen,  when  he  called  the  consort  of  a  King,  and  the  child- 
less mother  of  a  buried  Princess,  "  this  woman  !"     The  feeling 


190  THE    MANNERS    TESTIMONIAL. 

of  astonishment  and  disgust  which  pervades  the  House  is  well 
rendered.     Even  Lord  Lauderdale  himself  looks  surprised. 

Some  traits  of  his  Lordship's  domestic  history  succeed.  He 
is  represented  as  reading  Fox's  Martyrs  to  the  Honorable  Miss 
Butler,  and  reclaiming  her  from  the  errors  of  Popery  —  a  tem- 
ple of  Hymen  is  seen  in  the  distance. 

His  Lordship  is  afterward  introduced  at  dinner.  The  object 
of  this  relief  is  to  intimate  his  familiar  cast  of  religious  opin- 
ions. He  was  known  to  have  as  great  a  horror  of  a  thirteenth 
at  table  as  the  Chief-Baron  has  of  a  thirteenth  juror.  The 
artist  represents  his  Lordship  surrounded  by  the  ominous  num- 
ber, in  a  state  of  pious  dismay. 

This  dinner-scene  is  followed  in  natural  succession  by  a  ser- 
mon at  the  Asylum  in  Leeson  street.  But  there  is  nothing 
very  remarkable  in  it,  except  the  looks  of  profound  reverence 
with  which  "  the  Saints"  alternately  direct  their  attention  to 
the  pulpit,  which  is  occupied  by  Mr.  Daly,  and  the  pew  in 
which  the  Chancellor  is  engaged  in  his  devotions.  I  should 
not,  however,  omit  to  mention  that  the  face  of  a  Magdalen, 
peeping  through  the  bars  of  the  adjoining  receptacle  of  repent- 
ant loveliness,  at  Mr.  James  Smith  Scott,  is  beautifully  finished, 
and  that  the  mingled  expression  of  reproach  and  of  tenderness 
with  which  she  regards  him  is  admirably  rendered. 

But  I  find  that  I  am  dwelling  with  too  minute  an  accuracy 
upon  details ;  and  while  I  am  endeavoring  to  obviate  by  antici- 
pation any  doubts  which  may  occur  hereafter  to  the  learned, 
who  shall  survey  "  The  Manners  Testimonial,"  I  forget  that  I 
run  the  risk  of  wearying  my  readers  of  the  present  generation. 
I  must,  therefore,  pass  by  many  of  the  features  of  this  beauti- 
ful piece  of  art,  and  leave  them  to  puzzle  posterity. 

There  is,  however,  one  scene  of  splendid  conviviality,  on 
which  I  can  not  refrain  from  saying  a  word  or  two.  I  allude 
to  the  magnificent  relief  in  the  centre,  which  represents  a  meet- 
ing, at  Morisson's  Tavern,  of  the  Beefsteak  Club.  Lord  Eath- 
down,  better  known  as  Lord  Monk,  presides  over  the  Baccha- 
nalian confraternity.  This  is  a  wonderful  likeness.  The 
exact  look  has  been  preserved,  which  enabled  him  to  play  to 
admiration  in  the  private  theatricals  at  Kilkenny,  at  which  his 


LOED   MONK,    IN    CHARACTER.  191 

Lordship's  name  appeared  among  the  dramatis  personcB  in  the 
following  felicitous  announcement :  "  Doodle,  a  foolish  lord, 
Lord  Monk."  The  noble  Earl  is  represented  in  that  felicitous 
moment  when  he  gave  as  a  toast,  *'  The  Pope  in  the  pillory," 
with  certain  additional  aspirations,  which  it  is  not  necessary 
to  record.  The  whole  assembly  of  sympathizing  compotators 
stand  with  uplifted  glasses,  replenished  to  the  brim.  The  Irish 
Chancellor  is  seen  at  the  right  hand  of  the  noble  and  intellect- 
ual chairman,  in  the  usual  "  hip,  hip,  huzza"  attitude.  A  ring, 
given  him  by  the  King  during  his  visit  in  Ireland,  sparkles 
on  his  finger,  and  he  tramples  the  King's  parting  letter*  under 
his  feet. 

*  In  this  missive,  written  by  Lord  Sidmouth,  as  Home  Secretary,  in  the 
name  of  George  IV.,  it  was  strongly  recommended  that  party  squabbles  should 
cease  and  liberality  of  thought  and  action  be  exercised  in  future. —  M. 


THE   CATHOLIC  DEPUTATION. 

The  Roman  Catholic  Association  having  resolved  to  petition 
the  House  of  Commons  against  the  Bill  which  was  in  progress 
for  their  suppression  [in  1825J,  requested  Mr.  O'Connell  and 
Mr.  Sheil  to  attend  at  the  bar  of  the  house,  and  prayed  that 
those  gentlemen  should  be  heard  as  counsel  on  behalf  of  the 
body  in  whose  proceedings  they  had  taken  so  active  a  partici- 
pation.*    They  appeared  to  undertake  the  office  with  reluc- 

*  It  may  be  necessary  to  preface  this  sketch  with  a  rapid  view  of  the  posi- 
tion and  prospects  of  the  Catholic  question  at  this  time.  In  1823,  the  Catho- 
lic Association  was  formed,  and  was  in  active  operation  during-  1824.  One 
result  was  that  it  literally  put  down  the  spirit  of  insurrection  which  had  crowded 
the  prison  with  inmates,  and  the  gallows  and  the  hulks  with  victims.  It  raised 
large  sums,  by  means  of  small  but  numerous  contributions  to  a  fund  called 
"  The  Catholic  Rent."  The  Government,  angry  and  jealous  that  the  Associa- 
tion had  restored  that  comparative  tiunquillity  in  Ireland  which  its  own  harsh 
rule  had  been  unable  to  do,  resolved  that  "  it  must  be  put  down:"  —  and  more 
particularly,  as  the  g-eneral  proceedings  of  this  body  were  made  very  closely  to 
resemble  those  of  the  Parliament  in  London.  Accordingly,  when  the  Session 
commenced,  on  Februaiy  3,  1825,  the  Ministerial  document  called  "  The 
speech  from  the  Throne,"  suggested  the  suppression  of  the  Association ;  and 
Mr.  Goulburn,  who  was  Irish  Secretary,  obtained  leave  to  bring  in  a  Bill  for 
that  pui-pose,  on  that  day  week.  When  intelligence  of  this  reached  Dublin, 
the  Catholic  Association  resolved  that  a  Deputation  should  be  sent  to  London 
to  watch  over  and  take  care  of  the  interests  of  the  Catholics.  Messrs.  O'Con- 
nell and  Sheil  were  specially  intrusted  with  this  duty  —  all  the  Catholic  Peers 
were  declared  members  of  the  Deputation,  which  farther  included  as  many 
members  of  the  Association  as  chose  to  swell  the  cavalcade.  Mr.  Goulbui'n's 
bill  was  introduced.  On  February  17,  1825,  Mr.  Brougham  presented  a  peti 
tion  from  the  Catholics  of  Ireland,  against  a  measure  which  so  vitally  threatened 
their  interests,  and  moved  that  they  be  henrd  at  the  bar  of  the  house,  by  them- 
selves or  their  counsel,  in  opposition  to  the  Act.  This  motion  was  keenly  de- 
bated (as  is  described  by  Mr.  Sheil  in  tho  text)  and  rejected  by  222  to  189 


HOW    CONSTITUTED.  193 

tance.  It  involved  a  great  personal  sacrifice  upon  the  part  of 
Mr.  O'Connell ;  and,  independently  of  any  immediate  loss  in 
his  profession,  Mr.  Shiel  could  not  fail  to  perceive  that  it  must 
prejudice  him  in  some  degree  as  a  barrister,  to  turn  aside 
from  the  beaten  track  of  his  profession,  in  the  pursuit  of  a 
brilliant  but  somewhat  illusory  object.  It  was,  however,  next 
to  impossible  to  disobey  the  injunction  of  a  whole  people  — 
they  accepted  of  this  honorable  trust.  At  the  same  time  that 
counsel  were  appointed,  it  was  determined  that  other  gentle- 
men should  attend  the  debates  of  the  House  of  Commons  iu 
the  character  of  deputies,  and  should  constitute  a  sort  of 
embassy  to  the  English  people. 

The  plan  of  its  constitution  was  a  little  fantastic.  Any  per- 
son who  deemed  it  either  pleasurable  or  expedient  to  attach 
himself  to  this  delegation  was  declared  to  be  a  member,  and, 
in  consequence,  a  number  of  individuals  enrolled  themselves 
as  volunteers  in  the  national  service.  I  united  myself  to  these 
political  missionaries,  not  from  any  hope  that  I  should  succeed 
in  detaching  Lord  Eldon  from  the  church,  or  in  banishing  the 
fear  of  Oxford  from  the  eyes  of  Mr,  Peel,*  but  from  a  natural 
curiosity  to  observe  the  scenes  of  interest  and  novelty,  into 
which,  from  my  representative  character,  I  thought  it  not 
improbable  that  I  should  be  introduced.     I  set  out  in  quest  of 

votes.  The  Association-suppression  bill  passed  rapidly  through  the  Commons  : 
reached  the  Lords,  on  the  first,  and  received  the  Royal  Assent  on  the  ninth  of 
March,  1825.  Almost  as  a  matter  of  course,  and  as  if  to  fulfil  O'Connell's  boast 
hat  he  "  could  drive  a  coach-and-four  through  any  Act  of  Parliament,"  a  new 
Catholic  Association  immediately  sprung  up  out  of  the  ashes  of  the  old.— M. 

*  Peel  was  educated  at  Harrow,  where  Byron  was  his  schoolmate.  Thence 
he  went  to  Oxford  University,  where  he  graduated  with  the  highest  honors, 
rarely  conferred  upon  one  person,  though  his  successor  Mr.  Gladstone  also  won 
them.  He  took  what  is  called  *'  double-first"  honors  —  i.  e.  in  classics  and 
science.  When  Abbott,  the  Speaker,  was  raised  to  the  peerage  in  1817,  Peel 
was  elected  to  succeed  him  as  member  for  his  Alma  Mater,  and  retained  this 
distinction  (which,  on  account  of  his  support  of  Catholic  Emancipation,  Can- 
ning had  vainly  sighed  for,  as  he  confessed,  at  the  close),  until  1829,  when, 
ceasing  to  be  Peel  the  intolerant,  he  rendered  justice  to  the  Catholics,  and 
was  defeated,  on  a  contest  for  the  seat  for  the  University,  by  Sir.  R.  H.  Inglia, 
a  man  of  small  ability  but  extensive  illiberality.  In  1825,  as  an  Anti-Catholic, 
Peel  was  popular  at  Oxford. —  M. 

Vol.  II.— 9 


194  THE  CATHOLIC  DEPUTATION. 

political  adventure,  and  determined  to  commit  to  a  sort  of 
journal  whatever  should  strike  me  to  be  deserving  of  note. 
Upon  my  return  to  Ireland,  I  sent  to  certain  of  my  friends 
some  extracts  from  the  diary  which  I  had  kept,  in  conformity 
with  this  resolution.  They  told  me  that  I  had  heard  and  seen 
much  of  what  was  not  destitute  of  interest,  and,  at  their  sug- 
gestion, I  have  wrought  the  observations,  which  were  loosely 
thrown  together,  into  a  more  regular  shape ;  although  they 
will,  I  fear,  carry  Avith  them  an  evidence  of  the  haste  and 
heedlessness  with  which  they  were  originally  set  down. 

The  party  of  deputies  to  which  I  had  annexed  myself  trav- 
elled in  a  barouche  belonging  to  Mr.  O'Connell,  of  which  he 
was  kind  enough  to  offer  us  the  use.  I  fancy  that  we  made 
rather  a  singular  appearance,  for  the  eyes  of  every  passenger 
were  fixed  upon  us  as  we  passed ;  and  at  Coventry  (a  spot 
sacred  to  curiosity),  the  mistress  of  the  inn  where  we  stopped 
to  change  horses,  asked  me,  with  a  mixture  of  inquisitiveness 
and  wonder,  and  after  many  apologies  for  the  liberty  she  took 
in  putting  the  interrogatory,  "  who  the  gentlemen  were  ?"  I 
contented  myself  with  telling  her  that  we  were  Irish.  "  Par- 
liament folk,  I  suppose  V  to  which,  with  a  little  mental  reser- 
vation, I  nodded  assent. 

Mr.  O'Connell,  as  usual,  attracted  the  larger  portion  of  the 
public  gaze.  He  was  seated  on  the  box  of  the  barouche,  with 
a  huge  cloak  folded  about  him,  which  seemed  to  be  a  revival 
of  the  famous  Irish  mantle  ;  though  far  be  it  from  me  to  insin- 
uate that  it  was  ever  dedicated  to  some  of  the  purposes  to 
which  it  is  suggested,  by  Spenser,  that  the  national  garment 
was  devoted.  His  tall  and  ample  figure  enveloped  in  the 
trappings  that  fell  widely  round  him,  and  his  open  and  manly 
physiognomy,  rendered  him  a  very  conspicuous  object,  from  the 
elevated  station  which  he  occupied.  Wherever  we  stopped,  he 
called  with  an  earnest  and  sonorous  tone  for  a  newspaper, 
being  naturally  solicitous  to  learn  whether  he  should  be  heard 
at  the  bar  of  the  house  ;  and,  in  invoking  "  mine  host,"  for  the 
parliamentary  debates,  he  employed  a  cadence  and  gesture 
which  carried  along  with  them  the  unequivocal  intimations  of 
his  country. 


BISHOP   MILNER.  195 

Nothing  deserving  of  mention  occurred  until  we  had  reached 
Wolverhampton.  We  arrived  at  that  town  about  eight  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  with  keener  appetites  than  befitted  the  sea- 
son of  abstinence  [Lent],  during  which  we  were  condemned  to 
travel.  The  table  was  strew^ed  with  a  tantalizing  profusion 
of  the  choicest  fare.  Every  eye  was  fixed  upon  an  unhallowed 
round  of  beef,  which  seemed  to  have  been  deposited  in  the 
centre  of  the  breakfast-room  with  a  view  to  "  lead  us  into 
temptation,"  when  Mr.  O'Connell  exclaimed,  "  Recollect  that 
you  are  within  sacred  precincts.  The  conqueror  of  Sturges, 
and  the  terror  of  the  Vetoists,  has  made  Wolverhampton 
holy."  This  admonition  saved  us  on  the  verge  of  the  preci- 
pice—  Ave  thought  tbat  we  beheld  the  pastoral  staff  of  the 
famous  Doctor  raised  up  between  us  and  the  forbidden  feast, 
and  turned  slowly  and  reluctantly  from  its  unavailing  contem- 
plation to  the  lenten  mediocrity  of  dry  toast  and  creamless 
tea.  We  had  finished  our  repast,  when  it  was  suggested  that 
we  ought  to  pay  Doctor  Milner*  a  visit  before  we  proceeded 
upon  our  journey.  This  proposition  was  adopted  with  alacrity, 
and  we  went  forth  in  a  body  in  quest  of  that  energetic  divine. 
We  experienced  some  little  difficulty  in  discovering  his  abode, 
and  received  most  evangelical  looks  and  ambiguous  answers 
to  our  inquiries.  A  damsel  of  thirty,  with  a  physiognomy 
which  was  at  once  comely  and  demure,  replied  to  us  at  first 
with  a  mixture  of  affected  ignorance  and  ostentatious  disdain; 

*■  At  this  time  (1825),  Dr.  John  Milner,  the  eminent  Catholic  controversial- 
ist, was  seventy-three  years  old ;  he  died  in  1826. —  Born  in  1752,  he  completed 
his  education  at  Douay,  in  France,  was  ordained  a  priest  in  1777,  and  was  sta- 
tioned, tw^o  years  after,  at  Winchester,  vv^here  there  were  several  French  pris- 
oners w^ho  were  Catholics.  In  1782,  he  published  a  funeral  discourse  on  the 
death  of  Bishop  Challoner,  and  became  a  voluminous  write.r.  His  learning-, 
research,  and  skill,  as  an  Antiquarian,  were  displayed  in  his  History  of  the 
Antiquities  of  Winchester,  and  other  works  of  merit.  In  his  limited  History 
he  offended  the  prejudices  of  Dr.  Sturges,  a  prebendaiy  of  the  Cathedral,  who 
assailed  him  in  a  History  of  Popery,  to  which  the  reply  was  Milner's  well- 
known  Letters  to  a  Prebendary,  in  which  he  boldly  and  ably  defended  the 
Papal  Church.  He  had  a  somewhat  angiy  discussion,  also,  with  Charles  But- 
ler, the  Catholic  hamster,  on  ecclesiastical  points.  In  1803,  Dx\  Milner  was 
appointed  Vicar-Apostolic  in  the  Midland  Distiict  of  England,  and  removed 
to  Wolverhampton  —  he  was  now  Bishop  of  Castabala,  in  partibus.     In   1818 


196  THE  CATHOLIC  DEPUTATION. 

until  Sir  Thomas  Esmonde,*  wlio  is  "  a  marvellous  proper" 
man  in  every  sense  of  the  word,  whether  it  he  taken  in  its 
physical  or  moral  meaning,  addressed  the  fair  votary  of  Wes- 
ley with  a  sort  of  chuck-under-the-chin  manner  (as  Leigh  Hunt 
would  call  it),  and,  bringing  a  more  benign  and  feminine  smile 
upon  a  face  which  had  been  over-spiritualized  by  some  potent 
teacher  of  the  word,  induced  the  mitigated  methodist  to  reply, 
"  If  you  had  asked  me  for  the  Popish  priest,  instead  of  the 
Catholic  bishop,  I  should  have  told  you  that  he  lived  yonder," 
pointing  to  a  large  but  desolate-looking  mansion  before  us. 

We  proceeded,  according  to  her  directions,  to  Dr.  Milner's 
residence.  It  had  an  ample  but  dreary  front.  The  windows 
were  dingy  and  covered  with  cobwebs,  and  the  grass  before 
the  door  seemed  to  illustrate  the  Irish  imprecation.  It  is  sep- 
arated from  the  street  by  a  high  railing  of  rusty  metal,  at 
which  we  rang  several  times  without  receiving  any  response. 
It  was  suggested  to  us,  that  if  we  tried  the  kitchen-door,  we 
should  probably  get  in.  We  accordingly  turned  into  a  lane, 
leading  to  the  postern-gate,  which  was  opened  by  an  old  and 
feeble,  but  very  venerable  gentleman,  in  whom  I  slowly  recog- 
nised the  active  and  vigorous  prelate  whom  I  had  seen  some 
years  ago  in  the  hottest  onset  of  the  Veto  warfare  in  Ireland. 
His  figure  had  nothing  of  the  Becket  port  which  formerly  be- 
longed to  it.  A  gentle  languor  sat  upon  a  face  which  I  had 
seen  full  of  fire  and  expression;  his  eye  was  almost  hid  under 
the  relaxed  and  dropping  eyelid,  and  his  voice  was  querulous, 
undecided,  and  weak.  He  did  not  recollect  Mr.  O'Oonnell, 
and  appeared  at  a  loss  to  conjecture  our  purpose.  "  We  have 
come  to  pay  you  a  visit,  my  lord,"  said  Mr.  O'Connell.  The 
interpellation  was  pregnant  with  our  religion ;  "  my  lord," 
uttered  with  a  vernacular  richness  of  intonation,  gave  him  an 

he  published  his  "  End  of  Religious  Controversy,"  one  of  the  ablest  defences 
of  the  points  in  the  Catholic  faith,  to  which  Protestants  most  commonly  object. 
Bishop  Milner  was  an  amiable  and  pious  man,  and  much  beloved  in  the  dis- 
trict over  which  he  had  ecclesiastical  rule. —  M. 

*  Sir  Thomas  Esmonde  was  an  Irish  Catholic  baronet,  who  took  a  lively 
interest  and  an  active  part  in  Catholic  politics,  before  the  passing  of  the  Relief 
Bill,  in  1829.— M. 


CHARLES   BUTLER.  197 

assurance  that  we  were  from  "  the  Island  of  Saints,"  and  on 
the  right  road  to  heaven.* 

He  asked  us,  with  easy  urbanity,  to  walk  in.  We  found 
that  he  had  been  sitting  at  his  kitchen-fire,  with  a  small  cup 
of  chocolate,  and  a  little  bread,  which  made  up  his  simple  and 
apostolic  breakfast.  There  was  an  English  neatness  and 
brightness  in  everything  about  us,  which  was  not  out  of  keep- 
ing with  the  cold  but  polished  civility  of  our  reception. 

The  Doctor  was,  for  a  little  while,  somewhat  hallucinated, 
and  still  seemed  to  wonder  at  our  coming.  There  was  an 
awkward  pause.  At  length  Mr.  O'Connell  put  him  "  au  fait.^"* 
He  told  him  who  he  was,  and  that  he  and  his  colleagues  were 
going  to  London  to  plead  the  cause  of  their  holy  religion. 
The  name  of  the  counsellor  did  not  give  the  Doctor  as  electric 
a  shock  as  I  had  expected :  he  merely  said  that  we  did  him 
very  great  honor,  and  wished  us  every  success.  He  requested 
us  to  walk  up  stairs,  and  welcomed  us  with  much  courtesy,  but 
little  warmth.  Time  had  been  busy  with  him.  His  faculties 
were  not  much  impaired,  but  his  emotions  were  gone.  His 
ideas  ran  clearly  enough,  but  his  blood  had  ceased  to  flow. 
We  sat  down  in  his  library.  The  conversation  hung  fire.  The 
inflammable  materials  of  which  his  mind  was  originally  com- 
posed, were  damped  by  age.  O'Oonnell  primed  him  two  or 
three  times,  and  yet  he  did  not  for  a  long  while  fairly  go  off. 

I  resolved  to  try  an  expedient  by  way  of  experiment  upon 
episcopal  nature,  and,  being  well  aware  of  his  feuds  with  Mr. 
Charles  Butlerf  (the  great  lawyer  and  profound  theologian  of 

*  In  the  mediseval  ages,  when  the  rest  of  Europe  was  much  obscured  by  ig- 
norance, learning  was  largely  cultivated  in  Ireland,  which,  from  the  large  num- 
ber of  eminent  and  pious  ecclesiastics  which  she  then  produced,  was  called 
"The  Island  of  Saints."— M. 

t  Charles  Butler,  bom  in  1750,  did  not  die  until  1832,  He  was  a  Cathohc 
who  had  closely  studied  the  law,  and,  as  a  conveyancer,  was  held  in  high  repute. 
He  was  an  accomplished  scholar.  His  "  Notes  to  Coke  upon  Littleton"  ai-e 
prized  by  black-letter  lawyers,  and  his  "  Reminiscences"  are  full  of  political, 
literary,  and  personal  infoiTnation,  The  rest  of  his  works,  which  were  numer- 
ous, were  chiefly  ecclesiastical,  with,  now  and  then,  a  pohtical  pamphlet.  His 
Lives  of  the  Saints,  Historical  Account  of  the  La-w?s  against  the  Roman  Catli- 
olics,  and  his  Book  of  the  Catholic  Church,  excitei  great  interest  when  they 
appeared,  and  still  rank  as  standard  works.— M. 


198  THE  CATHOLIC  DEPUTATION. 

Lincoln's  Inn),  asked  him,  with  much  innocence  of  manner, 
though  I  confess  with  some  malice  of  intent,  "  whether  he  had 
lately  heard  from  his  old  friend  Charles  Butler?"  The  name 
was  talismanic — -the  resurrection  of  the  Doctor's  passions  was 
instantaneous  and  complete.  His  face  hecame  bright,  his  form 
quickened  and  alert,  and  his  eye  was  lighted  up  with  true  scho- 
lastic ecstasy.  He  seemed  ready  to  enter  once  more  into  the 
rugged  field  of  controversy,  in  which  he  had  won  so  many  lau- 
rels, and  to  be  prepared  to  "  fight  his  battles  o'er  again."  To 
do  him  justice,  he  said  nothing  of  his  ancient  antagonist  in  po- 
lemics which  a  bishop  and  a  divine  ought  not  to  say :  he,  on 
the  contrary,  mentioned  that  a  reconciliation  had  taken  place. 
I  could,  however,  perceive  that  the  junction  of  their  minds  was 
not  perfectly  smooth,  and  saw  the  marks  of  the  cement  which 
had  "  soldered  up  the  rift."  The  odjium  theologicum  has  been 
neutralized  by  an  infusion  of  Christianity,  but  some  traces  of 
its  original  acidity  could  not  fail  to  remain.  He  spoke  of  Mr. 
Butler  as  a  man  of  great  learning  and  talents;  and  I  should 
mention  parenthetically  that  I  afterward  heard  the  latter  ex- 
press himself  of  Doctor  Milner  as  a  person  of  vast  erudition, 
and  who  reflected  honor,  by  the  purity  of  his  life,  and  the  ex- 
tent of  his  endowments,  upon  the  body  to  which  he  belonged. 
The  impulse  given  to  his  mind  by  the  mention  of  his  achieve- 
ments in  controversy,  extended  itself  to  other  topics.  Cobbett 
had  done,  said  Doctor  Milner,  service  to  Ireland,  and  to  its 
religion,  by  addressing  himself  to  the  common  sense  of  the 
English  people,  and  trying  to  purge  them  of  their  misconcep- 
tions respecting  the  belief  of  a  great  majority  of  the  Christian 
world.* 

The  Doctor  spoke  with  a  good  deal  of  energy  of  the  contests 

*  Cobbett's  "  History  of  the  Protestant  Reformation,"  had  an  immense  sale 
in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  was  repeatedly  and  largely  reprinted  in  Amer- 
ica, and  was  translated  into  several  European  languages.  It  is  full  of  interest 
——partly  arising  from  the  number  and  variety  of  its  episodes  on  the  popular  top- 
ics of  the  day,  and  partly  fiom  the  manner  in  which  the  writer  showed  up  and 
condemned  the  spoliation  of  the  Anglican  Church,  by  Henry  VIII.,  when  he 
thought  that  '*  Gospel  truth  first  beamed  from  Bullen's  eyes."  It  was  a  singu- 
lar book,  at  all  events,  for  a  Protestant  (which  Cobbett  professed  to.be)  to  have 
written. —  M. 


NATIONAL  CONTRASTS.  IQff 

which  had  been  carried  on  between  the  clergy  and  the  itiner- 
ant missionaries  of  the  Bible  Societ}'-  in  Ireland,  and  congratu- 
lated Mr.  O'Connell  and  Mr.  Shell  on  their  exertions  in  Cork, 
from  which  the  systematic  counteraction  of  the  new  apostles  had 
originated.*  Mr.  O'Connell  expressed  his  obligations  upon 
this  occasion  to  Doctor  Milner's  celebrated,  and,  let  me  add, 
admirable  work,  which  has  been  so  felicitously  entitled  "  The 
End  of  Religious  Controversy."  — "  Oh  !"  said  the  Doctor,  "I 
am  growing  old,  or  I  should  write  a  supplement  to  that  book." 
After  some  further  desultory  conversation,  we  took  our  leave. 
Doctor  Milner,  who  had  been  aroused  into  his  former  energy, 
thanked  us  with  simple  and  unaffected  cordiality  for  our  visit. 
He  conducted  us  to  the  gate  before  his  mansion  (in  which  I 
should  observe  that  neither  luxury  nor  want  appear),  with  his 
white  head  uncovered,  and,  with  the  venerable  grace  of  age 
and  piety,  bade  us  farewell. 

We  proceeded  upon  our  journey.  No  incident  occurred  de- 
serving of  mention,  unless  a  change  in  x)ur  feelings  deserves 
the  name.  The  moment  we  entered  England,  I  perceived  that 
the  sense  of  our  own  national  importance  had  sustained  some 
diminution,  and  that,  however  slowly  and  reluctantly  we  ac- 
knowledged it  to  ourselves,  the  contemplation  of  the  opulence 
which  surrounded  us,  and  in  which  we  saw  the  results  and  evi- 
dences of  British  power  and  greatness,  impressed  upon  every 
one  of  us  the  consciousness  of  our  provincial  inferiority,  and 
the  conviction  that  it  is  only  from  an  intimate  alliance  with 
Great  Britain,  or  rather  a  complete  amalgamation  with  her  im- 
mense dominion,  that  any  permanent  prosperity  can  be  reason- 
ably expected  to  be  derived.  In  the  sudden  transition  from 
the  scenes  of  misery  and  sorrow  to  which  we  are  habituated 

*  In  1824,  when  the  Protestant  Reformation  Society  held  a  public  meeting 
at  Cork,  a  great  deal  of  good  and  earnest  abuse  was  poured  out,  by  the  clerical 
speakers,  against  the  Catholics  and  the  Pope.  O'Connell,  Shell,  and  other 
Catholics,  inten'upted  the  proceedings,  demanding  to  be  heard,  on  the  principle 
of  fair  play,  in  defence  of  their  religion.  This  ha^^ng  been  conceded,  they 
delivered  soine  very  admirable  polemical  harangues,  which  the  Reformation 
party  did  not  even  attempt  to  answer.  It  was  considered,  therefore,  that  the 
Catholic  party,  wto  remained  masters  of  the  field,  had  triumphed  in  the  con 
test. — M. 


^0  THE   CATHOLIC   DEPUTATION. 

in  Ireland  to  the  splendid  spectacle  of  Englisli  wealth  and  civ- 
ilization, the  humiliating  contrast  between  the  two  islands 
presses  itself  upon  every  ordinary  observer.  It  is  at  all  times 
remarkable.  Compared  to  her  proud  and  pampered  sister, 
clothed  as  she  is  in  purple  and  in  gold,  Ireland,  with  all  her 
natural  endowments,  at  best  appears  but  a  squalid  and  emaci- 
ated beauty.  I  have  never  failed  to  be  struck  and  pained  by 
this  unfortunate  disparity ;  but  upon  the  present  occasion  the 
objects  of  our  mission,  and  the  peculiarly  national  capacity  in 
which  w^e  were  placed  in  relation  to  England,  naturally  drew 
our  meditation  to  the  surpassing  glory  of  the  people  of  whom  we 
had  come  to  solicit  redress. 

An  occasional  visit  to  England  has  a  very  salutary  effect. 
It  operates  as  a  complete  sedative  to  the  ardor  of  the  political 
passions.  It  should  be  prescribed  as  a  part  of  the  antiphlogistic 
regimen.  The  persons  who  take  an  active  part  in  the  impas- 
sioned deliberations  of  the  Irish  people  are  apt  to  be  carried 
away  by  the  strength  of  the  popular  feelings  which  they  con- 
tribute to  create.  Having  heated  the  public  mind  into  an  ar- 
dent mass  of  emotion,  they  are  themselves  under  the  influence 
of  its  intensity.  This  result  is  natural  and  just :  but  among 
the  consequences  (most  of  which  are  beneficial)  which  have 
arisen  from  the  habitual  excitation,  and  to  which  the  Catho- 
lics have  reasonably  attributed  much  of  their  inchoate  success, 
they  have  forgotten  the  effect  upon  themselves,  and  have  omit- 
ted to  observe  in  their  own  minds  a  disposition  to  exaggerate 
the  magnitude  of  the  means  by  which  their  ends  are  to  be  ac- 
complished. In  declaiming  upon  the  immense  population  of 
Ireland,  they  insensibly  put  out  of  account  the  power  of  that 
nation  from  whom  relief  is  demanded,  and  who  are  grown  old 
in  the  habit  of  domination,  which  of  all  habits  it  is  most  diffi- 
cult to  resign. 

A  man  like  Mr.  O'Oonnell  who,  by  the  force  of  his  natural 
eloquence  produces  a  great  emotion  in  the  midst  of  an  enthusi- 
astic assembly  of  ardent  and  high-blooded  men  —  who  is  hailed 
by  the  community,  of  which  he  is  the  leading  member,  as  their 
chief  and  champion  —  who  is  greeted  with  popular  benedictions 
as  he  passes — whose  name  resounds  in  every  alley,  and  "  stands 


EVroENCES    OF   ENGLISH    WEALTH.  201 

rubric"  on  eveiy  wall  —  can  with  diflficulty  resist  the  intoxica- 
ting influence  of  so  many  exciting  causes,  and  becomes  a  sort 
of  political  opiuni-eater,  avIio  must  be  torn  from  these  seductive 
indulgences,  in  order  to  reduce  him  into  perfect  soundness  and 
soberness  of  thought.  His  deputation  to  England  produced  an 
almost  immediate  effect  upon  him.  As  we  advanced,  the  din 
of  popular  assemblies  became  more  faint :  the  voice  of  the 
multitude  was  scarcely  heard  in  the  distance,  and  at  last  died 
away.  He  seemed  half  English  at  Shrewsbury,  and  was 
nearly  Saxonized  when  we  entered  the  murky  magnificence 
of  Warwickshire.  As  we  surveyed  the  volcanic  region  of 
manufactures  and  saw  a  thousand  Etnas  vomiting  their  eternal 
fires,  the  recollections  of  Erin  passed  away  from  his  mind,  and 
the  smoky  glories  of  Skifton*  and  Wolverhampton  took  pos- 
session of  his  soul.  The  feeling  which  attended  our  progress 
through  England  was  not  a  little  increased  by  our  approach 
to  its  huge  metropolis.  The  waste  of  wealth  around  us,  the 
procession  of  ponderous  vehicles  that  choked  the  public  roads, 
the  rapid  and  continuous  sweep  of  carriages,  the  succession  of 
luxurious  and  brilliant  towns,  the  crowd  of  splendid  villas, 
which  Cowper  has  assimilated  to  the  beads  upon  the  neck  ©f 
an  Asiatic  Queen,  and  the  vast  and  dusky  mass  of  bituminous 

*  Shifnal  is  the  name  of  the  place.  It  is  situated  between  the  busy  Httle  town 
of  Wellington,  in  Shropshire,  and  the  important  borough  of  Wolverhampton,  in 
Staffordshire.  Shifnal  is  only  important  as  being  the  centre  of  a  great  iron 
and  coal  district.  Travellers  to  and  from  Ireland,  via  Holyhead,  in  the  old 
time  of  mail-coaches,  used  to  be  startled,  on  a  dark  night,  in  rapidly  passing 
over  miles  upon  miles  of  a  road,  through  a  country,  w^hei-e,  all  around  far  as  the 
eye  could  take  in  at  one  view,  immense  furnaces  flung  a  lurid  light  through  the 
gloom  — which  seemed  all  the  gloomier  by  contrast — and  hundi'eds  of  men 
flitted  to  and  fro,  feeding  these  furnaces  with  coal  or  throwing  in  heaps  of 
the  limestone  used  to  flux  the  liquid  iron  as  it  was  separated  from  the  ore  by 
heat.  The  sulphurous  smell,  from  the  immense  quantity  of  coal  thus  consumed, 
is  so  unpleasant  and  unwholesome,  that,  rather  than  inhale  it, 

"  The  boldest  held  their  breath, 
For  a  time." 

The  railway  from  Wolverhampton  to  Shrewsbuiy  passes  through  the  Shifnal  dis- 
trict— but  travelling  at  forty  miles  an  hour  allows  not  much  more  than  a  few 
minutes'  glance  at  the  fieiy  furnaces  I  speak  of.  This  is  the  scene  of  one  of 
the  most  touching  adventures  of  Dickens'  Little  Nelly. —  M. 

9* 


202  THE  CATHOLIC  DEPUTATION. 

vapor  which  crowns  the  great  city  with  an  everlasting  cloud, 
intimated  our  approach  to  the  modern  Babylon. 

Upon  any  ordinary  occasion  I  should  not,  I  believe,  have 
experienced  any  strong  sensation  on  entering  London.  What 
is  commonly  called  "  coming  up  to  town,"  is  not  a  very  sublime 
or  moving  incident.  I  honestly  confess  that  I  have  upon  a 
fine  summer  morning  stood  on  Westminster  Bridge,  upon  my 
return  from  the  brilliant  inanities  of  Vauxhall,  and  looked 
upon  London  with  a  very  drowsy  sympathy  in  the  meditative 
enthusiasm  which  breathes  through  Wordsworth's  admirable 
sonnet.  But  upon  the  occasion  which  I  am  describing,  it 
needed  little  of  the  spirit  of  political  romance  to  receive  a 
deep  and  stirring  impulse,  as  we  advanced  to  the  great  me- 
tropolis of  the  British  empire,  and  heard  the  rolling  of  the 
great  tide  —  the  murmurs,  if  I  may  so  say,  of  the  vast  sea  of 
wealth  before  us.  The  power  of  England  was  at  this  moment 
presented  to  us  in  a  more  distinct  and  definite  shape,  and  we 
were  more  immediately  led,  as  we  entered  London,  to  bring 
the  two  countries  into  comparison.  This,  we  exclaimed,  is  Lon- 
don, and  the  recollection  of  our  own  Eblana*  was  manifest  in 
the  sigh  with  which  the  truism  was  spoken  :  yet  the  reflection 
upon  our  inferiority  was  not  unaccompanied  by  the  consolatory 
anticipation  that  the  time  was  not  distant,  when  we  should  be 
permitted  to  participate  in  all  the  advantages  of  a  real  and 
consummated  junction  of  the  two  countries,  when  the  impedi- 
ments to  our  national,  prosperity  should  be  removed,  and  L-e- 
land  should  receive  the  ample  overflowings  of  that  deep  cur- 
rent of  opulence  which  we  saw  almost  bursting  through  its 
golden  channels  in  the  streets  of  the  immense  metropolis. 

Immediately  after  our  arrival,  we  were  informed  by  the 
agent  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Association  in  London,  Mr. 
^neas  M'Doniielf  (and  who,  in  the  discharge  of  the  duties 

*  Eblana  is  the  Latin  name  of  Dublin,  and  that  by  which  that  city  was  des- 
ignated in  early  law  documents. —  M. 

t  iEneas  M'Donnel,  who  had  been  editor  of  the  Cork  Mercantile  Chroniclcy 
was  a  good  speaker  and  clever  writer,  who  soon  transferred  himself  to  Dublin, 
Taking  an  active  part  in  Catholic  politics,  he  was  appointed  salaried  agent  for 
tlie  Irish  Catholics,  and  sent  to  London.  He  performed  his  duty,  with  ability 
and  zeal,  until  1829,  when  Emancipation  was  granted.     From  that  time,  his 


SIR  FRANCIS   BURDETT.  203 

confided  to  him,  lias  evinced  great  talents,  judgment,  and 
discretion),  that  Sir  Francis  Burdett*  was  desirous  to  see  us  as 
soon  as  possible.  We  accordingly  proceeded  to  his  house  in  St. 
James's  Place,  where  we  found  the  Member  for  Westminster 
living  in  all  the  blaze  of  aristocracy.  I  had  often  heard  Sir 
Francis  Burdett  in  popular  assemblies,  and  had  been  greatly 
struck  with  his  simple,  easy,  and  unsophisticated  eloquence  : — I 
was  extremely  anxious  to  gain  a  nearer  access  to  a  person  of 
60  much  celebrity,  and  to  have  an  opportunity  of  observing  the 
character  and  intellectual  habits  of  a  man  who  had  given  so 

course  was  altered  by  his  applying  himself,  in  the  London  Standard  and  other 
ultra-Tory  Journals,  to  constant  abuse  of  Mr.  O'Connell,  on  the  plea  that  Irish 
agitation  ought  to  have  ceased  when  Emancipation  was  obtained.  Mr.  M'Don- 
nell  is  still  living,  and  resides  in  London. —  Lord  Norbury,  who  never  could  re- 
sist a  joke,  on  seeing  M'Donnell  coming  out  of  the  house  of  Dr.  Troy,  the  Cath- 
olic Archbishop  of  Dublin,  exclaimed,  "  There  is  the  pious  iEneas  returning 
from  the  sack  of  Troy !" — It  is  well  that  a  pun  need  not  involve  a  fact,  as  Dr. 
Troy,  who  was  the  reverse  of  Falstaff,  eschewed  sack  and  other  wines  —  his 
limited  resources  being  distributed  among  the  needy.  When  he  died,  the  sum  of 
a  guinea  was  all  that  was  found  in  the  purse  of  this  primitive  Archbishop. —  M. 

*  Sir  Francis  Burdett,  whose  rank  and  great  fortune  'entitled  him  to  a  place 
among  the  British  Aristocracy,  was  a  most  violent  democrat,  from  his  starting 
into  public,  iintil  the  last  seven  years  of  his  life.  He  derived  his  political  bias 
from  Home  Tooke,  author  of  The  Diversions  of  Purley.  Born  in  1770,  he  en- 
tered Parliament  in  1796,  and  immediately  opposed  Pitt's  Government.  With 
little  intermission,  he  had  a  seat  in  the  House  of  Commons  until  his  death  in  1844. 
Constantly  opposing  eveiy  Tory  Ministry,  in  1810,  Burdett  having  published  a 
letter  to  his  constituents,  in  which  (in  no  very  measured  terms)  he  said,  that 
the  House  of  Commons  had  illegally  exercised  their  power  in  committing  Gales 
Jones  to  prison,  the  speaker  issued  his  wairant  to  apprehend  him  and  convey  him 
to  the  Tower,  for  "  gross  breach  of  privilege."  Burdett  barricaded  his  house 
in  London,  prepared  to  resist,  and  would  have  been  backed  by  the  populace, 
who  loved  him.  He  was  taken  to  the  Tower,  however,  and  confined  there 
until  the  prorogation  of  Parliament.  He  constantly  supported  liberal  measures, 
which  made  him  a  sort  of  Pariah  among  the  noble  and  the  wealthy,  and  sub- 
jected hirn  to  imprisonment  and  fine.  He  advocated  Parliamentary  Reform, 
and  Catholic  Emancipation  —  but,  in  1837,  "England's  pride  and  Westmin- 
ster's Gloiy,"  as  he  was  fondly  styled,  picking  a  quaiTel  with  O'Connell,  went 
over  to  the  Tory  party,  and  continued  with  them  ever  after. —  He  manied 
one  of  the  daughters  of  Thomas  Coutts,  the  rich  London  banker,  and  their 
daughter,  Angela  Burdett,  was  left  all  the  Coutts'  fortune,  by  the  banker's  sec- 
ond wife  (Harriet  Mellon,  an  actiess),  whose  second  husband  was  the  Duka 
of  St.  Albans.  — M. 


204  THE  CATHOLIC  DEPUTATION. 

much  of  its  movement  to  tlie  public  mind.  He  was  sitting  in 
his  study  when  we  were  introduced  by  Mr.  M'Donnel.  He 
received  us  without  any  of  that  liauteur  which  I  have  heard 
attributed  to  him,  and  for  which  his  constitutional  quiescence 
of  manner  is  sometimes  mistaken.  We,  who  have  the  hot 
Celtic  blood  in  our  veins,  and  deal  in  hyperbole  upon  occasions 
which  are  not  calculated  to  call  up  much  emotion,  are  naturally 
surprised  at  what  we  conceive  to  be  a  want  of  ardor  upon 
themes  and  incidents  in  which  our  own  feelings  are  deeply 
and  fervently  engaged. 

During  my  short  residence  in  London,  I  constantly  felt 
among  the  persons  of  high  political  influence  to  whom  we 
approached,  a  calmness,  which  I  should  have  taken  for  the 
stateliness  of  authority  in  individuals,  but  that  I  found  it  was 
much  more  national  than  personal,  and  was,  in  a  great  degree, 
a  universal  property  of  the  political  world.  There  was  a 
great  deal  of  simple  dignity,  which  was  entirely  free  from  af- 
fectation in  the  address  of  Sir  Francis  Burdett.  Having  re- 
quested us  to  sit,  which  we  did  in  a  large  circle  (his  first 
remark  indeed  was,  that  we  were  more  numerous  than  he  had 
expected),  he  came  with  an  instantaneous  directness  to  the 
point,  and  after  a  few  words  of  course  upon  the  honor  conferred 
upon  him  by  being  intrusted  with  the  Catholic  question,  en- 
treated us  with  some  strenuousness  to  substitute  Mr.  Plunket 
in  his  place  ;  he  protested  his  readiness  to  take  any  part  in  the 
debate  which  should  be  assigned  him ;  but  stated,  that  there 
was  no  man  so  capable,  and  certainly  none  more  anxious  than 
the  Attorney-General  for  the  promotion  of  our  cause.  But  for 
the  plain  and  honest  manner  in  which  this  exhortation  was 
given,  I  should  have  suspected  that  he  was  merely  performing 
a  part — but  I  have  no  doubt  of  the  sincerity  with  which  the 
recommendation  was  given. 

He  dwelt  at  length  upon  the  great  qualifications  of  Mr. 
Plunket  as  a  parliamentary  speaker,  and  pressed  us  to  waive 
all  sort  of  form  with  respect  to  himself,  and  put  him  at  once 
aside  for  an  abler  advocate.  We  told  him  that  it  was  out  of 
our  power  to  rescind  the  decision  of  an  aggregate  meeting. 
This  he  seemed  to  feel,  and  said  that  he  should  endeavor  to 


SIK    FRxiNCIS    BURDETT.  205 

di&cliarge  tlie  trust  as  efficiently  as  Le  was  able.  His  heart, 
he  said,  was  in  the  question  —  he  knew  that  there  could  not 
be  peace  in  Ireland  until  it  was  adjusted ;  and  for  the  country- 
he  professed  great  attachment.  He  loved  the  people  of  Ire- 
land, and  it  was  truly  melancholy  to  see  so  noble  a  race  de- 
prived of  the  power  of  turning  their  great  natural  endowments 
to  any  useful  account.  These  observations,  which  an  Irishman 
would  have  delivered  with  great  emphasis,  were  made  by  Sir 
Francis  Burdett  almost  without  a  change  of  tone  or  look.  He 
made  no  effort  at  strong  expression.  Everything  was  said 
with  great  gentleness,  perspicuity,  and  candor.  I  thought, 
however,  that  he  strangely  hesitated  for  common  words.  His 
language  was  as  plain  as  his  dress,*  which  was  extremely  sim- 
ple, and  indicated  the  favorite  pursuit  of  a  man  who  is  "  mad 
at  a  foxchase,  wise  at  a  debate." 

I  watched  his  face  while  he  spoke.  His  eyes  are  small  and 
bright,  but  have  no  flash  or  splendor.  They  are  illuminated 
by  a  serene  and  tranquil  spirit :  his  forehead  is  high  and  finely 
arched,  but  narrow  and  contracted,  and,  although  his  face  is 
lengthy,  its  features  are  minute  and  delicately  chiselled  off. 
His  mouth  is  extremely  small,  and  carries  much  suavity  about 
it.  I  should  have  guessed  him  at  once  to  be  a  man  of  rank, 
but  should  not  have  suspected  his  spirit  to  be  a  transmigration 
of  Caius  Gracchus.  I  should  never  have  guessed  that  he  was 
the  man  whose  breath  had  raised  so  many  waves  upon  the 
public  mind,  and  aroused  a  storm  which  made  the  vessel  creak. 
I  saw  no  shadow  of  the  "  tmver  of  Julius"  in  his  pure  and 
ruddy  color,  and  should  never  have  conjectured  that  he  had 
inhaled  the  evaporations  of  its  stagnant  moat.t  At  the  same 
time  I  should  observe  that,  if  there  were  no  evidences  of  a 
daring  or  adventurous  spirit  about  this  champion  of  the  peo- 
ple, there  are  in  his  demeanor  and  bearing  many  indications 
of  calm  resolve  and  imperturbable  determination. 

*  Summer  or  winter,  Burdett  appeared  in  the  House  of  Commons  in  one 
invariable  costume  —  broad-brimmed  hat,  blue,  brass-buttoned  coat,  drab 
breeches,  and  top-boots  ;  the  regular  dress,  in  fact,  of  a  country-gentleman  fond 
of  field-sports. —  M.  . 

+  At  present,  the  moat  which  surrounds  the  Tower  of  London,  is  a  moat 
minus  water. —  M, 


206  THE  CATHOLIC  DEPUTATION. 

I  was  a  good  deal  more  occupied  in  watching  this  celebrated 
person  than  in  observing  my  companions.  Yet  I  at  once  per- 
ceived that  Ave  were  too  numerous  and  gregarious  a  body  for  a 
council  of  state,  and  was  glad  to  find  Mr.  O'Connell  take  a  de- 
cided, and  what  was  considered  by  some  to  be,  a  dictatorial 
tone  among  us.  I  saw  that  unless  some  one  individual  assumed 
the  authority  of  speaking  and  acting  for  the  rest,  we  should,  in 
all  likelihood,  be  involved  in  those  petty  squabbles  and  miser- 
able contentions  of  which  Bonaparte  speaks  as  characteristic 
of  the  Irish  deputies  who  were  sent  to  Paris  to  negotiate  a  rev- 
olution.* I  was  much  pleased  to  find  that  Mr.  O'Connell  gave, 
even  in  this  early  communication,  strong  proof  of  that  wise, 
temperate  and  conciliatory  spirit,  by  which  his  conduct  in 
London  was  distinguished,  and  by  the  manifestation  of  which 
he  conferred  incalculable  service  on  his  country. 

After  this  interview  with  Sir  Francis  Burdett,  the  chief  ob- 
ject of  which,  upon  his  part,  was  to  sound  our  disposition  to 
confide  the  conduct  of  our  cause  to  the  Irish  Attorney-General 
[PlunketJ,  we  proceeded  to  the  House  of  Commons,  for  the 
purpose  of  attending  the  debate  upon  the  petition  to  be  heard 
by  counsel  at  the  bar.  We  had  ah-eady  been  informed  by  Sir 
Francis  Burdett  that  it  was  very  unlikely  that  the  House  would 
accede  to  the  petition,  and  that  Ministers  had  collected  their 
forces  to  oppose  it.f     For  the  result  we  were  therefore  pre- 

*  Napoleon's  opinion,  as  reported  by  O'Meara,  is  unequivocal :  "  If  the  Irish 
had  sent  over  honest  men  to  me,  I  would  certainly  have  made  an  attempt  upon 
Ireland.  But  I  had  no  confidence  in  either  the  integrity  or  the  talents  of  the 
Irish  leaders  that  were  in  France.  They  could  offer  no  plan,  were  divided  in 
opinion,  and  continually  quarrelling  with  each  other." — M. 

t  Lord  Liverpool  was  at  the  head  of  that  Ministry;  Eldon  was  Chancellor: 
Peel,  Home  Secretary,  and  Mr.  Canning  the  only  member  of  the  Cabinet  who 
sui)ported  Catholic  Emancipation.  The  petition  from  the  Catholics  of  Ireland 
was  intrusted,  not  to  Plunket,  who  had  constantly  and  ably  advocated  their 
claims  (and  was  now  a  little  out  of  favor  because,  as  Irish  Attorney-General, 
he  had  supported  the  measure  for  putting  down  the  Association),  but  to  Bui'dett, 
who  presented  it,  March  1,  1825,  and  then  moved  for  a  committee  of  Catholic 
inquiry.  He  was  supported,  among  others,  by  Plunket,  Canning,  and  Brougham, 
and  strongly  opposed  by  Peel: — but  the  motion  was  carried  by  247  to  234  and 
the  Bill  eventually  passed  the  Commons.  But  between  the  first  and  second 
readings,  the  Duke  of  York,  next  heir  to  the  Throne,  made  a  speech,  on  Ajiril 


THE   DUKE   OF   YORK.  207 

pared ;  but  we  were  extremely  anxious  to  hear  a  discussion, 
in  which  Mr.  Brougham  was  expected  to  display  his  great  pow- 
ers, and  in  which  the  general  demerits  of  the  association  would 
in  all  probability  be  brought  by  Ministers  under  review.  The 
Speaker*  had  the  goodness  to  direct  that  the  Catholic  deputies 
should  be  allowed  to  sit  under  the  gallery  during  the  discus- 
sions which  appertained  immediately  to  the  object  of  their 
mission ;  and  we  were,  in  consequence,  accommodated  with 
places  upon  this  vantage-ground,  from  which  I  had  an  oppor- 
tunity of  observing  the  orators  of  the  night.  We  found  a  con- 
siderable array  in  the  House,  and  attracted  universal  obser- 
vation. 

In  the  front  of  our  body  was  Mr.  O'Oonnell,  upon  whom 
every  eye  was  fixed.  He  affected  a  perfect  carelessness  of 
manner ;  but  it  was  easy  to  perceive  that  he  was  full  of  rest- 
lessness and  inquietude  under  an  icy  surface.  I  saw  the  cur- 
rent eddying  beneath.  Next  him  was  Mr.  O'Gorman,  who 
carried  a  most  official  look  as  secretary  to  the  Catholics  of  all 
Ireland,  and  seemed  to  realize  the  beau-ideal  of  Irish  self-pos- 
session.    (I  should  observe,  by-the-way,  that  Mr.  O'Gonnan 

25,  1825,  in  which,  after  declaring  his  hostility  to  the  Catholic  claims,  he  pub- 
licly vowed  never  to  abate  it,  cind  affirmed  this  declaration,  as  if  on  oath,  by 
the  concluding  words — "  So  help  me  God."  This  manifesto  led  to  the  loss  of 
the  measure  in  the  Lords.  In  Moore's  emphatic  poem,  "  The  Irish  Slave," 
written,  in  1827,  on  the  death  of  the  Duke  of  York,  he  thus  alluded  to  this 
vow:  — 

"  He  had  pledged  a  hate  unto  me  and  mine. 

He  had  left  to  the  future  nor  hope  nor  choice, 
But  sealed  that  hate  with  a  Name  Divine, 

And  now  he  was  dead,  and  —  I  couldnH  rejoice." 
The  Duke's  speech  was  delivered,  it  has  always  been  believed,  at  the  instiga- 
tion of  Lord  Eldon. —  M. 

*  The  Speaker  was  Charles  Manners  Sutton,  who  held  that  office,  by  repeat- 
ed re-elections,  from  1817  until  1835,  when  he  was  opposed  by  Mr.  James 
Abercrombie,  a  Whig  lawyer  (and  steward,  or  sort  of  upper-servant  to  the 
Duke  of  Devonshire),  and  rejected  by  a  majority  of  ten.  The  ground  for  this 
opposition  and  rejection  was  a  sui-mise  that  Manners  Sutton  had  taken  an  active 
part  in  forming  the  Peel  Ministry,  ia  December,  1834.  He  was  finally  created 
Viscount  Canterbuiy.  As  Speaker,  his  ui'banity  of  manners  and  impartiality  of 
conduct  were  remembered,  when  too  late,  in  contrast  with  his  successor  Abeor* 
crombie,  who  was  bearish  and  partial. —  M. 


208  THE  CATHOLIC  DEPUTATION. 

was  of  great  use  in  London  in  controlling  tliat  spirit  of  dispu- 
tation among  the  deputies  to  winch  Irishmen  are  habitually 
prone,  and  which  it  required  the  perfect  good-humor  and  ex- 
cellent disposition  of  the  learned  functionary  to  assuage.) 

The  House  began  to  fill  about  eight  o'clock.  The  aspect 
of  the  members  was  not  in  general  very  imposing.  Few  were 
in  full  dress,  and  there  was  little,  in  the  general  demeanor  of 
the  representatives  of  the  people,  which  was  calculated  to  raise 
them  in  my  reverence.  This  absence,  or  rather  studious  neg- 
lect, of  ceremony,  is  perhaps  befitting  an  assembly  of  the  "  citi- 
zens and  burgesses  in  Parliament  assembled."  I  remarked 
that  some  of  the  members  were  distinguished  for  their  spirit 
of  locomotion.  The  description  of  "  the  Falmouth  —  the  heavy 
Falmouth  coach,"  given  by  a  jocular  Secretary  of  State,*  had 
prepared  me  to  expect  in  a  noble  Lord  a  mor^  sedentary  habit 
of  body;  but  he  displayed  a  perfect  incapacity  to  stay  still,  and 
was  perpetually  traversing  the  House,  as  if  he  wished,  by  the 
levity  of  his  trip  and  the  jauntiness  of  his  movements,  to  fur- 
nish a  practical  reputation  of  ministerial  merriment. 

After  some  matters  of  form  had  been  disposed  of,  Mr. 
Brougham  rose  to  move,  on  behalf  of  the  Association,  that 
counsel  should  be  heard  at  the  bar  of  the  House.f     I  had  seen 

*  One  of  Canning's  elaborated  and  therefore  rather  dull  jokes  at  Lord 
Nugent,  who  was  stout  in  person,  having  gone  over  to  assist  the  Spanish  lib- 
erals, in  1822.     Lord  N.,  it  seems,  put  himself  into  the  Falmouth  mail. —  M. 

t  To  do  anything  like  justice  to  the  cyclopsediac  knowledge,  stirring  elo- 
quence, scientific  discoveries,  litei'aiy  productions,  philosophic  researches,  and 
public  services  of  Henry  Brougham,  the  great  law-reformer,  would  require  the 
compass  of  a  volume  rather  than  the  narrow  limit  of  a  note.  In  another  and 
future  publication,  perhaps,  I  may  be  tempted  to  trace  his  course,  and  sketch 
his  character. —  Bom  in  Edinburgh  (No,  19  St.  Andrew's  Square),  on  Septem- 
ber 19,  1779,  he  was  called  to  the  Scottish  bar  at  an  early  age,  and  practised 
there  until  1807,  his  friends  and  companions  being  Jeifrey,  Cockburn,  and  oth- 
ers who  have  attained  eminence.  Appealing  before  the  House  of  Lords,  in 
the  Roxburgh  peerage  case,  he  so  much  distinguished  himself,  that  he  was 
strongly  urged  to  leave  the  Scotch  for  the  English  bar,  which  he  did.  Hence- 
forth, his  course  was  one  of  increasing  distinction.  In  1810,  he  entered  Par- 
liament, on  the  liberal  side,  and  distinguished  himself  by  speaking  against  the 
Orders  in  Council,  which  caused  the  last  war  between  England  and  America. 
In  1820,  as  Attorney-General  to  Queen  CaroHne,  he  successfully  defended  hei 


HENRY   EEOTJGHAM.  209 

Mr.  Brongliam  several  years  before,  and  immediately  observed  a 
great  improvement  in  his  accomplishments  as  a  public  speaker. 
Nature  has  not,  perhaps,  been  very  favorable  to  this  very  emi- 
nent man  in  his  merely  physical  configuration.  His  person  is 
tall,  but  not  compact  or  well  put  together.  There  is  a  loose- 
ness of  limb  about  him,  which  takes  away  from  that  stability 
of  attitude  which  indicates  the  fixedness  of  the  mind.  His 
chest  is  narrow  —  he  wants  that  bulk  which  gives  Plunket  an 
Atlantean  massiveness  of  form,  mentioned  by  Milton  as  the 
property  of  a  great  statesman.  The  countenance  of  Mr. 
Brougham  wants  symmetry  and  refinement.  His  features  are 
strong,  but  rather  wide.  He  has  a  Caledonian  prominence  of 
bone.  His  complexion  indicates  his  intellectual  habits,  and  is 
"  sicklied  o'er  by  the  pale  cast  of  thought."  It  seems  smoked 
by  the  midnight*lamp.  His  eyes  are  deeply  sunk,  but  full  at 
once  of  intensity  and  meditation.  His  voice  is  good — it  is 
clear,  articulate,  and  has  sufficient  melody  and  depth.  He  has 
the  power  of  raising  it  to  a  very  high  key,  without  harshness 
or  discoja,  and  when  he  becomes  impassioned  he  is  neither 
hoarse  nor  shrill. 

Such  is  the  outward  man ;  and  if  he  has  defects,  they  are 
not  so  numerous  or  so  glaring  as  those  over  which  the  greatest 
orator  of  antiquity  obtained  a  victory.  In  his  ideal  picture  of 
a  public  speaker,  Homer  represents  the  most  accomplished 
artificer  of  words  as  a  person  with  few  if  any  personal  attrac- 
tions. The  characteristics  of  Brougham's  oratory  are  vigor 
and  passion.  He  alternates  with  great  felicity.  He  possesses 
in  a  high  degree  the  art  of  easy  transition  from  impetuosity  to 

in  her  trial  before  the  House  of  Lords.  In  1827,  he  liberally  supported  the 
Government  of  Canning,  with  whom  he  had  a  personal  quarrel  some  years 
before.  In  1830,  he  was  made  Lord-Chancellor,  on  Lord  Grey  coming  into 
power,  and  created  Baron  Brougham  and  Vaux.  He  had  strongly  supported 
Catholic  Emancipation,  and  he  now  battled,  with  immense  force,  against  the 
Aristocracy,  and  won  Parliamentary  Reform  for  the  People.  He  left  office  in 
November,  1834,  when  (at  the  instance  of  Queen  Adelaide?)  the  Melbourne 
Ministiy  were  suddenly  dismissed  by  AVilliam  IV. —  He  has  not  since  taken 
office,  but  has  carried  out  Law  Reform,  has  been  active  in  varied  literaiy  and 
political  composition,  has  made  important  researches  in  science,  and  has  devo- 
ted himself,  in  the  Lords,  to  the  hearing  of  appeals  from  the  courts  of  law.  He 
is  now  [1854]  in  his  seventy-fifth  year,  hale  in  health  and  strong  in  mind. —  M. 


210  THE    CATHOLIC    DEPUTATION. 

demonstration.  His  blood  does  not  become  so  over-lieated  as 
to  render  it  a  matter  of  difficulty  for  him  to  return  to  the  tone 
and  language  of  familiar  discourse  —  the  prevalent  tone  and 
language  of  the  House  of  Commons.  A  man  who  can  not  rise 
beyond  it  will  never  make  a  great  figure ;  but  whoever  can 
not  habitually  employ  it  will  be  accounted  a  declaimer,  and 
will  fall  out  of  parliamentary  favor.  Mr.  Brougham's  gesture 
is  at  once  senatorial  and  forensic.  He  uses  his  arms  like  an 
orator,  and  his  hands  like  a  lawyer.  He  employs  great  sweep 
of  action,  and  describes  segments  of  circles  in  his  impassioned 
movements  :  here  he  forgets  his  forensic  habitudes  :  but  when 
he  is  either  sneering  or  sophisticating,  he  closes  his  hands 
together  with  a  somewhat  pragmatical  air,  or  uniting  the 
points  of  his  forefingers,  and,  lifting  them  to  a  level  with  his 
chair,  embodies  in  his  attitude  the  minute  spirit  of  nisi  prius. 
If  he  did  this  and  nothing  else,  he  would  hold  no  higher  place 
than  the  eternal  Mr.  Wetherell  in  the  House.*  But  what, 
taken  apart,  may  appear  an  imperfection,  brings  outjjhe  nobler 
attributes  of  his  mind,  and,  by  the  contrast  which  it  presents, 
raises  his  better  faculties  into  relief. 

Of  the  variety,  nay,  vastness  of  his  acquirements,  it  is  unne- 
cessary to  say  anything :  he  is  a  kind  of  ambulatory  encyclo- 
pedia, and  brings  his  learning  to  bear  upon  every  topic  on 
which  he  speaks.  His  diction  is  highly  enriched,  or,  if  I  may 
so   say,  embossed  with  figures  executed  after  the  pure  clas- 

*  Sir  Charles  Wetherell  was  made  Solicitor-General  in  1821.  Bom  in  1770, 
he  was  called  to  the  bar  in  1794,  and  practised  for  some  time  at  the  common 
law  bar,  but  settled  down,  finally,  into  immense  practice  in  chanceiy.  He  en- 
tered Parliament  in  1818,  and  his  careless  dress,  eccenti'ic  manner,  and  extra- 
ordinary way  of  speaking  made  him  more  noted  than  eminent.  In  1827,  when 
Copley  (now  Lord  Lyndhurst)  was  made  Master  of  the  Rolls,  he  was  succeeded 
as  Attoniey-General  by  Wetherell,  who  resigned,  in  1829,  on  the  Catholic  Re- 
lief Bill  being  brought  in  without  consulting  him,  the  first  law  officer  of  the 
Crown.  He  opposed  Catholic  Emancipation  and  Parliamentary  Reform,  and 
quitted  Parliament  when  the  latter  measure  was  passed.  In  the  autumn  of 
1831,  when  he  was  unpopular,  as  an  anti-Reformer,  he  appeared  at  Bristol  to 
hold  the  Sessions,  as  Recorder  of  that  city.  He  was  mobbed,  narrowly  escaping 
with  his  life,  and  Bristol  was  the  scene  of  dreadful  riots,  burning,  and  other 
devastations  for  the  following  day  and  night.  He  was  one  of  the  best  equity 
lawyers  of  his  time.     He  died  immensely  rich,  in  1846,  aged  seventy-six, —  M 


PEEL    AND   HAMILTON   ROWAN.  211 

sical  model ;  yet  there  are  not,  perhaps,  any  isolated  passages 
which  are  calculated  to  keep  a  permanent  residence  in  the 
recollection  of  his  hearers.  He  does  not  venture,  like  Plunket, 
into  the  loftiest  regions  of  eloquence ;  he  does  not  wing  his 
flight  among  those  towering  elevations  which  are,  perhaps,  as 
barren  as  they  are  high ;  but  he  holds  on  with  steady  conti- 
nuity in  a  very  exalted  course,  and  never  goes  out  of  sight. 
His  bursts  of  honest  vehemence,  and  indignant  moral  reproba- 
tion, are  very  fine.  He  furnished,  upon  the  night  on  which  I 
heard  him,  an  admirable  exemplification  of  this  commanding 
power.  I  allude  to  his  reply  to  Mr.  Peel  upon  the  charges 
made  against  Hamilton  Rowan.* 

The  Secretary  for  the  Home  Department  is  said  to  have 
delivered,  upon  this  occasion,  one  of  the  best  speeches  which 
he  ever  pronounced  in  parliament.  I  own  that  he  greatly  sur- 
passed my  expectations.  I  was  prepared,  from  the  perusal  of 
his  speeches,  and  the  character  which  I  had  heard  of  him,  for 
a  display  of  frigid  ingenuity,  delivered  Avith  a  dapper  neatness 
and  an  ironical  conceit:  I  heard  the  late  Mr.  Curran  say  that 
"  Peel  was  a  mere  official  Jack-an-apes,"  and  had  built  my 
conceptions  of  him  upon  a  phrase  which,  valueless  as  it  may 
appear,  remained  in  my  memory.  But  I  was  disabused  of  this 
erroneous  impression  by  his  philippic  against  the  Association. 

*  Peel  was  hurried,  by  the  ardor  of  debate,  when  denouncing-  the  Catholic 
Association,  to  accuse  that  body  of  having  presented  an  address  to  Archi- 
bald Hamilton  Rowan,  "  an  attainted  traitor."  Mr.  Rowan  had  been  Secretary 
to  the  United  Irishmen.  In  1794,  he  was  tried  for  libel,  defended  by  CuiTan 
(in  one  of  the  most  eloquent  speeches  ever  made,  even  by  him),  convicted,  fined, 
and  imprisoned.  While  suffering  this  sentence,  he  ascertained  that  his  com- 
plicity in  the  intended  "  rebellion"  had  been  disclosed  to  the  Executive,  and 
then,  as  is  subsequently  told,  he  escaped  to  France,  and  thence  to  America, 
where  he  maintained  himself  by  the  labor  of  his  head  and  hands.  Lord  Chan- 
cellor Clare  secured  his  pardon,  but  did  not  live  to  see  Rowan's  return.  In 
1805,  he  came  back  to  Ireland,  was  formally  arraigned  at  the  bar  of  justice,  be- 
fore Lord  Clonmel,  and  pleaded  the  King's  pardon,  briefly  but  eloquently  ex- 
pressing his  gratitude  for  the  boon.  He  retired  into  the  bosom  of  domestic 
life,  living  on  his  large  fortune.  When  Peel  went  out  of  his  way  to  assail  him, 
Mr.  Rowan,  though  then  seventy-five  years  old,  immediately  went  from  Ireland 
to  London,  to  call  him  to  account,  but  Peel  frankly  withdrew  the  expressions, 
and  they  parted,  with  a  mutual  sense  of  "  satisfaction,"  other  than  that  sought 
by  the  veteran. — M. 


212  THE  CATnOLTC  DEPUTATION. 

I  do  not  mean  to  say  tliat  Mr.  Peel  lias  not  a  good  deal  of 
elaborate  self-sufficiency.  He  is  perpetually  indulging  in  en- 
comiums upon  his  own  manliness  and  candoi; — and  certainly 
there  is  much  frankness  in  his  voice  and  .bearing — but  any 
man  who  observes  the  expedients  with  which  he  endeavors  to 
effect  his  escape  from  the  grasp  of  some  powerful  opponent, 
will  be  convinced  that  there  is  a  good  deal  of  lubricity  about 
him.  He  constantly  advances  arguments  of  the  fallacy  of 
which  he  can  not  fail  to  be  conscious,  and  which  would  be  a 
burlesque  upon  reasoning  if  they  were  not  uttered  from  the 
Treasury  Bench. 

As  a  speaker,  he  should  not  be  placed  near  Brougham,  or 
Canning,  or  Plunket,  although  he  rises  far  beyond  that  medi- 
ocrity to  which  in  Ireland  we  are. in  the  habit  of  condemning 
him.  His  language  is  not  powerful,  but  it  is  perfectly  clear, 
and  uniformly  correct.  I  observed,  indeed,  that  his  sentences 
were  much  more  compact  and  unbroken,  and  their  several 
parts  better  linked  together,  than  those  of  Mr.  Brougham  ;  but 
the  one  evolves  his  thoughts  in  a  lengthened  and  winding 
chain,  while  the  other  (having  a  due  fear  of  the  parenthetical 
before  his  eyes)  presents  an  obvious. idea  in  a  brief  and  simple 
form,  and  never  ventures  to  frame  any  massive  or  extended 
series  of  phrase.  His  gesture  is,  generally  speaking,  exceed- 
ingly appropriate,  and  if  I  found  any  fault  with  it,  I  should 
censure  it  for  its  minute  adherence  to  grace.  His  hands  are 
remarkably  white  and  well  formed,  and  are  exhibited  with  an 
ostentatious  care.  He  stands  erect,  and,  to  use  a  technical 
expression  employed  by  French  dancers,  "  a-plomhJ''  This* 
firmness  of  attitude  gives  him  that  appearance  of  determina- 
tion, which  is  wanting  perhaps  in  Mr.  Brougham. 

I  do  not  like  his  physiognomy  as  an  orator.  He  has  3 
handsome  face,  but  it  is  suffused  with  a  smile  of  sleek  self 
complacency,  which  it  is  impossible  to  witness  without  dis 
taste.  He  has  also  a  trick  of  closing  his  eyes,  which  may 
arise  from  their  weakness,  but  which  has  something  mental  in 
its  expression ;  and,  however  innocent  he  may  be  of  all  offen- 
sive purpose,  is  indicative  of  superciliousness  and  contempt. 
I  doubt  not  he  found  it  of  use  in  Ireland  among  the  menials 


PEEL    AND    O  CON  NELL.  213 

of  authority,  and  acquired  tliis  habit  at  the  Castle.  In  one, 
the  best  passage  in  his  speech,  and  I  believe  the  best  he  ever 
uttered,  he  divested  himself  of  those  defects. 

Upon  the  moral  propriety  of  his  attack  upon  Hamilton 
Rowan  it  is  unnecessary  to  say  anything.  The  misfortunes 
of  that  excellent  gentleman  ought  not  to  have  been  pressed 
into  the  service.  After  every  political  convulsion,  a  Lethe 
should  be  permitted  to  flow  upon  the  public  mind,  and  a  sin 
of  thirty  years'  standing  ought  not  only  to  be  pardoned,  but 
forgotten.  Mr.  Peel,  however,  could  not  resist  the  temptation 
of  dragging  upon  the  stage  a  man  whose  white  hair  should 
hide  every  imperfection  upon  his  head.  Laying  aside  all 
consideration  of  the  generosity  evinced  by  Mr.  Peel  in  the 
selection  of  the  topic,  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  he  pro- 
nounced his  invective  with  great  and  very  successful  force. 
He  became  heated  with  victory,  and,  cheered  as  he  was 
repeatedly  by  his  multitudinous  partisans,  turned  suddenly 
toward  the  part  of  the  house  where  the  deputies  were  seated, 
and  looking  triumphantly  at  Mr.  O'Oonnell,  with  whom  he  for- 
got for  a  moment  that  he  had  been  once  involved  in  a  personal 
quarrel,*  shook  his  hand  with  scornful  exultation,  and  asked 

*  In  1815,  the  late  Sir  Robert  Peel,  then  Secretary  for  Ireland,  consid- 
ered, himself  insulted  by  some  expressions  in  a  speech  made  by  Mr.  O'Connell, 
and  challenged  him.  It  was  agreed  that  the  duel  should  take  place  in  France, 
whither  Peel  went,  but,  as  O'Oonnell  was  in  London,  en  route  to  the  assigned 
battle-ground,  the  object  of  his  journey  transpired,  the  police  interfered,  he 
was  bound  over  to  keep  the  peace,  and  the  duel  was  thus  prevented.  (The 
late  Dr.  England,  Catholic  Bishop  of  Oharleston,  S.  0.,  who  then  resided  at 
Cork,  pointed  out  the  conjunct  sin  and  folly  of  duelling,  when  he  next  met 
O'Oonnell,  and  induced  him  to  give  a  solemn  promise  that,  under  no  circum- 
stances would  he  again  appeal  to  arms.)  It  was  whispered,  at  the  time,  that 
O'Connell  might  have  passed  over  to  France,  undetected,  if  he  had  not  delayed 
in  London,  to  receive  news  of  the  health  of  his  wife,  whom  he  had  left  very  ill 
in  Dublin.  Another  public  character  had  declined  a  challenge  at  the  same 
time,  on  the  plea  of  his  daughter's  illness,  and  the  two-fold  occun-ence  elicited 
the  following  impromptu  from  Charles  Kendal  Bushe  :  — 

"Two  heroes  of  Erin,  abhorrent  of  slaughter, 
Improved  on  the  Hebrew  command  — 
One  honored  his  wife  and  the  other  his  daughter, 
That  '  their  days  might  be  long  in  the  land.'  " 
In  Willis's  "  Pencillinga  by  the  Way"  (one  of  the  most  delightful  books  of  trav- 


214  THE  CATHOLIC  DEPUTATION. 

whether  the  House  required  any  better  evidence  than  the 
address  of  the  Association  to  "an  attainted  traitor."  The 
phrase  was  well  uttered,  and  the  effect  as  a  piece  of  oratory- 
was  great  and  powerful.  But  for  the  want  of  moral  dignity,  I 
should  say  that  it  was  very  finely  executed.* 

We  hung  down  our  heads  for  a  moment  and  quailed,  under 
the  consciousness  of  defeat.  But  it  was  only  temporary.  Mr. 
Brougham  Avas  supplied  with  various  facts  of  great  importance 
on  the  instant,  and  inflicted  upon  Mr.  Peel  a  terrible  retribu- 
tion. His  reply  to  the  minister  was,  I  understand,  as  effective 
as  his  celebrated  retort  upon  the  Queen's  letters.  He  showed 
that  the  Government  had  extended  to  Mr.  Rowan  conspicuous 
marks  of  favor,  and  reproached  Mr.  Peel  with  his  want  of 
nobleness  in  opening  a  wound  which  had  been  so  long  closed, 
and  in  turning  the  disasters  of  an  honorable  man  into  a  rhetor- 
ical resource.  He  got  hold  of  the  good  feeling  of  the  House. 
Their  virtuous  emotions,  and  those  high  instincts  which  even 
the  spirit  of  party  can  not  entirely  suppress,  were  at  once  mar- 
shalled upon  his  side.  Conscious  of  his  advantage,  he  rushed 
upon  his  antagonist  and  hurled  him  to  the  ground.  He  dis- 
played upon  this  occasion  the  noblest  qualities  of  his  elo- 
quence—  fierce  sarcasm,  indignant  remonstrance,  exalted  sen- 
timent, and  glowing  elocution.     He  brought  his  erudition  to 

elled  observation  and  pei'sonal  gossip)  a  different  version  of  this  epigram  is 
given,  as  related  by  Moore,  not  so  neatly  turned  as  the  above.  The  O'Coniaell 
family  w^ere  veiy  angry  with  Moore  for  having  repeated  the  lines ;  and  Mrs. 
Fitzsimon,  one  of  O'Connell's  daughters,  recorded  her  indignation  in  some 
powerful  stanzas,  written  in  the  album  of  Samuel  Lover,  the  Irish  lyrist. —  Bushe, 
the  real  delinquent,  had  a  knack  in  this  way.  Once  upon  a  time,  the  members 
of  the  Leinster  bar  were  prevented,  by  a  yiojjent  storm,  from  crossing  a  feriy  at 
Ballinlaw.  Mr.  Caesar  Colclough,  heedless  of  danger,  flung  his  saddle-bags  into 
the  boat,  and  desired  the  man  to  row  him  over.  Bushe  thus  caught  him  in  an 
impromptu  — 

"  While  meaner  souls  the  tempest  keeps  in  awe, 
Intrepid  Csesar,  crossing  Ballinlaw, 
Shouts  to  the  boatman,  shivering  in  his  rags, 
'  You  carry  Cfesar  and  his  —  saddle-bags  /'  " — M. 

•  I  had  intended  to  introduce  a  sketch  of  Mr.  Rowan's  character  into  this  ar 
tide,  but  found  that  I  could  not  compress  it  within  its  appropriate  limits.  The 
reader  will  find  it  appended  hi  a  separate  article. 


MEMOEIALS   OF   PEEL.  215 

Lis  aid,  and  illustrated  his  defence  by  a  quotation  from  Cicero, 
in  which  the  Roman  extenuates  the  faults  of  those  who  were 
engaged  on  Pompey's  side.  The  passage  was  exceedingly 
apposite,  but  was  delivered,  perhaps,  with  too  dolorous  and 
lacrymatory  a  tone.  A  man  should  scarcely  weep  over  a 
quotation.  But  altogether  the  reply  was  magnificent,  and 
made  the  minister  bite  the  dust.*  With*  this  comfortable 
reflection  we  left  the  house. 

*  The  late  Sir  Robert  Peel,  born  in  1788,  was  the  son  of  a  man  who  had  be- 
come a  millionaire,  as  an  enterprising  cotton-manufacturer.  Educated  for 
political  life,  young  Peel  entered  Parliament  in  1809  (having  previously  had 
the  unusual  distinction  of  winning  a  "  double-first  class"  degree  at  Oxford), 
and  soon  was  noticed  as  a  well-informed  and  judicious  speaker  and  worker. 
In  1810,  he  was  made  Colonial  under-secretary,  Percival  being  Premier.  From 
1812  to  1818,  he  was  Chief-Secretary  for  Ireland.  In  1822,  he  succeeded 
Addington  (Lord  Sidmouth)  as  Home  Secretaiy,  and,  in  that  capacity,  com- 
menced the  mitigation  and  consolidation  of  the  criminal  law.  When  Canning 
became  Premier,  in  1827,  Peel  and  five  other  Cabinet  ministers  resigned.  In 
1828,  when  Wellington  formed  his  ministry.  Peel  was  his  Home  Secretary,  and, 
as  such,  introduced  and  carried  the  Catholic  Relief  Bill  in  1829,  thereby  incur- 
ring the  enmity  of  the  great  Tory  exclusionist  party.  From  1830  to  1834,  Peel 
headed  the  opposition  to  Lord  Grey's  Reform  Ministry,  and  was  summoned 
from  Italy,  at  the  close  of  the  latter  year,  to  form  a  ministry  which  was  broken 
up  in  April,  1835.  The  Whigs  resimied  office,  and  retained  it  until  the  sum- 
mer of  1841,  when  Lord  Melbourne  had  to  relinquish  his  position  as  Premier, 
and  Peel  succeeded  him,  amid  general  hope,  from  public  confidence  in  his  ad- 
ministrative faculties,  that  he  would  extricate  the  country  from  the  financial  and 
other  difficulties  in  which  the  Melbourne  Cabinet  had  involved  it.  He  imposed 
an  Income  and  Property  tax  (the  best,  if  fairly  assessed),  and  in  1842,  com- 
menced his  system  of  Fi'ee  Trade,  by  sweeping  away  hundreds  of  imposts  — 
most  of  them  small,  but  all  vexatious.  In  1845,  he  announced  Free  Trade  in 
Com,  to  the  joy  of  millions,  who  were  led  to  expect  more  from  it  than  they 
have  yet  received,  and  to  the  dismay  and  anger  of  the  landlords  and  farmers, 
who  had  looked  on  Peel  as  their  great  bulwark.  The  Com  Laws  were  abol- 
ished in  June,  1846,  and,  immediately  after,  the  Whigs  and  the  Protectionists 
uniting  to  oppose  Peel,  beat  him  on  the  Irish  Coercion  Bill,  and  forced  him  to 
retire.  On  June  29,  1846,  he  announced  the  dissolution  of  his  ministry,  in 
one  of  the  ablest  speeches  he  had  ever  delivered,  and  quitted  office,  the  peo- 
ple's favorite.  For  the  following  four  years,  his  influence  in  public  affaire  was 
immense.  He  was  understood  not  to  desire  a  return  to  office  —  but  he  wielded 
immense  moral  power.  On  June  29,  1850,  he  was  thrown  off  his  hoi'se,  while 
riding  up  Constitution  Hill  (London)  and  died  from  the  effects  of  the  fall  on 
July  2,  1850,  mourned  by  the  nation.  All  felt  his  loss  —  from  the  sovereign  to 
the  peasant.     From  the  time  that  he  threw  oft"  the  trammels  of  party,  Peel  was 


216  THE  CATHOLIC  DEPUTATION. 

It  is  not,  of  course,  my  intention  to  detail  every  circum- 
stance of  an  interesting  kind  which  occurred  in  the  course  of 
this  political  excursion.  From  a  crowd  of  materials,  I  select 
what  is  most  deserving  of  mention.  I  should  not  omit  the 
mention  of  a  dinner  given  to  the  deputies  by  Mr.  Brougham. 
He  invited  us  to  his  house  upon  the  Saturday  after  our  arrival, 
and  gave  the  Irish  embassy  a  very  splendid  entertainment. 
Some  of  the  first  men  in  England  were  of  the  party.  There 
were  four  Dukes  at  table.  I  had  never  witnessed  an  assem- 
blage of  so  much  rank,  and  surveyed  with  intense  curiosity 
the  distinguished  host  and  his  illustrious  guests.  It  is  unne- 
cessary to  observe  that  Mr.  Brougham  went  through  the  rou- 
tine of  convivial  form  with  dignified  facility  and  grace.  It 
was  to  his  mind  that  I  directed  my  chief  attention,  with  a 
view  to  compare  him,  in  his  hours  of  relaxation,  with  the  men 
of  eminence  with  whom  I  had  conversed  in  my  own  country. 

The  first  circumstance  that  struck  me  was  the  entire  absence 
of  effort,  and  the  indifference  about  display.  I  perceived  that 
he  stretched  his  faculties  out,  after  the  exhaustion  of  profes- 
sional and  parliamentary  labor,  in  a  careless  listlessness ; 
and,  if  I  may  so  say,  threw  his  mind  upon  a  couch.  Curran, 
Grattan,  and  Bushe,  were  the  best  talkers  I  had  ever  wit- 
nessed. The  first  (and  I  heard  a  person  make  the  same 
remark  in  London)  was  certainly  the  most  eloquent  man 
whose  conversation  I  ever  had  an  opportunity  of  enjoying. 
But  his  serious  reflections  bore  the  character  of  harangue,  and 
his  wit,  with  all  its  brilliancy,  verged  a  little  upon  farce.  He 
was  so  fond,  indeed,  of  introducing  dialogue  into  his  stories, 
that  at  times  his  conversation  assumed  the  aspect  of  a  dra- 
matic exhibition.  There  was,  perhaps,  too  much  tension  of 
the  intellect  in  those  masterpieces  of  mirth  and  pathos,  in 
which  he  appeared  to  be  under  the  alternate  influence  of 
Momus  and  of  Apollo.  The  conversation  of  Mr.  Grattan  was 
not  of  an  after-dinner  cast.  You  should  have  walked  with 
him  among  the  woods  of  Tinnahinch,  and  listened  to  his  recol- 

emphatically,  the  great  English  statesman  of  his  time.     Amid  the  absorbing 
cares  of  public  life,  he  was  the  patron  and  friend  of  art,  literature,  and  science 
and  those  who  devote  their  minds  to  these  ennobling  pursuits. —  M. 


BROrGHAM's    DINNEE-rARTT.  217 

lections  of  a  better  day  by  the  sound  of  the  lulling  and  roman- 
tic waters  of  those  enchanting  groves,  in  ^vhich,  it  is  said,  he 
studied  the  arts  of  elocution  in  his  youth,  and  through  which 
he  delighted  to  wander  in  the  illuminated  sunset  of  his  glo- 
rious age.  It  was  necessary  that  his  faculties  should  be 
thrown  into  a  swing  before  they  should  come  into  full  play. 
He  poured  out  fine  sentiments  in  glittering  epigrams.  His 
mind  became  antithetical  from  continued  habit,  but  it  was 
necessary  that  it  should  be  thrown  into  excitement  to  bring  it 
into  action.  It  was  in  sketches  of  character  that  he  excelled  ; 
but  you  should  give  him  time  and  leisure  for  the  completion 

of  his  miniatures.     Bushe But  I  am  deviating  from 

my  theme. 

To  return  to  Mr.  Brougham,  he  is,  perhaps,  more  negligent 
and  heedless  of  what  he  says  than  any  of  these  eminent  per- 
sons to  whom  I  have  alluded,  and  flings  his  opinions  into 
phrase  without  caring  into  what  shape  they  may  be  moulded. 
I  remember  to  have  read  an  article  in  the  Edinburgh  Review, 
upon  Ourran's  life,  that  eminent  men  in  Hngland  never  make 
any  effort  to  shine  in  conversation ;  and  I  saw  an  illustration 
of  the  remark  at  Mr.  Brougham's  table.  He  did  not  tell  a 
single  story  —  except,  indeed,  that  he  mentioned  a  practical 
joke  which  had  been  played  upon  Joseph  Hume,*  who 
takes  things  "  au  pic  de  la  lettre"  by  passing  some  strange, 
uncouth  person  upon  him  as  Mr.  O'Oonnell.  The  latter  sat 
between  the  Dukes  of  Devonshiret  and  Leinster.     It  was  the 

*  Joseph  Hume,  born  in  Scotland  in  1777,  obtained  a  large  fortune  by  con- 
tracts in  India,  during  the  Mahratta  war.  He  returned  in  1808,  and  entered 
Parliament  in  1812.  With  slight  intermission,  he  has  been  in  the  Commons 
ever  since,  and,  from  his  supeiior  length  of  service  as  a  member,  is  now  enti- 
tled to  the  Nestorian  title  of  "  Father  of  the  House."  Mr.  Hume's  great  merit 
is  that  he  applied  himself,  session  after  session,  to  correct  the  extravagant 
expenditure  of  successive  Governments.  At  first,  he  was  a  Tory,  but,  for  the 
last  five-and-thirty  years,  has  been  a  Liberal  —  so  much  so,  indeed,  that,  on  one 
occasion,  he  stated  in  Parliament  that  *'  he  would  vote  that  black  was  white, 
if  it  would  serve  his  party  !''  As  a  speaker,  Mr.  Hume  is  much  below  par;  as 
a  man  of  business,  industrious  and  good  tempered,  he  has  no  superior. —  M. 

t  The  Duke  of  Devonshire,  one  of  the  wealthiest  peers  in  England,  has  very 
large  estates  in  the  South  of  Ireland,  which  are  let  at  low  rents,  and  well  ad- 
ministered.    He  is  B  ow  in  his  sixty-fotirth  yeai',  and  has  retired  from  public 

Vol.  II.  — 10 


218  THE  CATHOLIC  DEPUTATION. 

place  of  honor,  and  the  learned  gentleman  filled  it  without 
airs  or  afFectation.  In  all  liis  intercourse  with  the  great  in 
London,  I  remarked  that  he  comported  himself  in  a  manner 
perfectly  becoming  his  character  and  station  in  his  own  coun- 
try. I  was  glad  to  find  that,  unlike  Sir  Pertinax,  "  he  could 
stand  straight  in  the  presence  of  a  great  man."  The  atten- 
tion of  the  company  was  very  much  fixed  upon  him.  But  he 
spoke  little.  I  remember  Mr.  Moore  telling  me  an  anecdote 
of  Mrs.  Siddons,  which  is  not  unillustrative  of  the  scene.  A 
large  party  were  invited  to  meet  her.  She  remained  silent,  as 
is  her  wont,  and  disappointed  the  expectations  of  the  whole 
company,  who  watched  for  every  syllable  that  should  escape 
her  lips.  At  length,  however,  being  asked  if  she  would  have 
some  Burton  ale,  she  replied,  with  a  sepulchral  intonation,  that 
''  she  liked  ale  vastly."*  To  this  interesting  remark  the  dis- 
play of  her  intellectual  powers  was  confined.  I  do  not  think 
that  Mr.  O'Connell,  upon  this  occasion,  gave  utterance  to  any 
more  profound  or  sagacious  observation. 

Nearly  opposite  to  him  sat  Sir  Francis  Burdett  and  Mr. 
Lambton.t     The  latter  seemed  to  me  to  watch  Mr.  O'Connell 

life  —  which  he  never  cared  for.  He  was  spoken  of,  repeatedly,  as  being  about 
to  accept  tVie  office  of  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland,  but  the  only  public  situation, 
in  which  he  appeared,  was  that  of  Ambassador  to  Russia,  in  1826,  at  the  cor- 
onation of  the  Emperor  Nicholas.  He  is  a  well-known  patron  of  the  fine  arts, 
and  his  collection  of  sculpture,  paintings,  and  books,  at  one  of  his  seats  (Chats- 
worth,  in  Derbyshire),  is  world-famed.  He  strongly  advocated  Catholic  Eman- 
cipation.—  M. 

■*  I  remember  mentioning  this  anecdote  to  the  late  Mr.  Maturin,  who  said 
*'  The  voice  of  Mrs.  Siddons,  like  St.  Paul's  bell,  should  never  toll  except  for 
the  dealh  of  kings."  [Lockhart's  Life  of  Scott  records  an  instance  of  this,  at 
the  table  of  the  Ariosto  of  the  North,  where  Mrs.  Siddons,  in  an  eminently 
tragic  voice,  thus  addressed  a  servant:  "I  asked  for  water,  boy — you've 
brought  me  beer." — M.] 

t  John  George  Lambton,  born  April,  1792,  entered  Parliament  early,  and 
always  opposed  the  Tory  partyi  Lord  Grey  was  his  father-in-law,  but  Lamb- 
ton  did  not  follow  that  haughty  aristocrat's  example  as  regaxxls  Canning,  whose 
Ministry  he  supported,  Li  1828,  he  was  created  Baron  Durham.  Li  1830, 
he  became  a  member  of  Lord  Grey's  Ministry,  and  was  understood  to  have 
proposed  a  much  larger  measure  of  Parliamentary  Reform  than  Lord  Grey 
would  sanction.  Lord  Durham  became  leader  of  the  movement  party,  and  his 
assumption  of  the  office  of  Premier  was  considered  at  hand.     But  Lord  Grey 


DUKE    OF   SUSSEX.  219 

with  a  very  unremitting  vigilance.  He  barclly  spoke  himself. 
His  air  is  foreign  ;  he  is  full  of  intelligence,  and  looks  like  a 
picture,  by  Murillo,  of  a  young  Spanish  Jesuit  who  has  just 
completed  his  novitiate.  At  the  other  end  of  the  table  sat  the 
celebrated  Mr.  Scarlett,*  who  is  at  English  nisi-prius  facile 
■princeps.  I  thought  I  could  perceive  the  wile  of  a  lawyer  in 
his  watchful  and  searching  eye  — 

"  He  is  a  great  observer,  and  he  looks 
Quite  through  the  thoughts  of  men." 

His  smile,  too,  was  perhaps  a  little  like  that  of  Oassius.  He 
said  little  —  altogether,  there  was  not  as  much  alertness  in  the 
dialogue  as  in  the  champagne. 

The  Duke  of  Sussex  seemed  to  me  the  only  person  Avho 
exhibited  much  hilarity  of  spirit.  There  is  a  good  deal  of 
buoyancy  in  the  temperament  of  his  Royal  Highness.  He 
speaks  with  great  correctness  and  fluency ;  is  perfectly  kind 
and  affable  ;  and  laughs  with  all  his  heart  at  his  friend's  jokes 
as  v/ell  as  at  his  own.  If  the  Duke  of  Sussex  were  our  Lord 
Lieutenant  (as  I  hope  he  yet  may  be),  he  would  put  us  into  good 
humor  with  each  other  in  a  month.f     I  would  substitute  Ober- 

quitted  office  in  1834,  and,  in  the  year  after  (to  get  him  out  of  the  way?)  liord 
Durham  was  sent  to  Russia  as  Ambassador,  where  he  remained  for  two  years. 
In  1838,  he  was  sent  to  Canada,  as  Governor-General,  with  almost  dictatorial 
powers,  in  the  use  of  which  he  was  not  supported  by  the  Melbourne  Ministry 
in  England,  whereupon  he  returned  home,  the  same  year.  He  died,  July, 
1840.  In  debate  he  was  a  good  speaker,  but  an  air  of  hauteur  dulled  the 
effects  of  his  most  impassioned  language. —  M. 

*  Sir  James  Scarlett,  then  a  whig,  but  afterward  Attorney-General  under 
the  Wellington  Administration.  He  eventually  became  Lord  Abinger,  and 
Chief  Baron  of  the  Exchequer. —  M. 

+  Augustus  Frederick,  Duke  of  Sussex,  was  sixth  son  of  George  III.,  and 
much  offended  his  father  by  contracting  marriage,  when  a  minor,  with  Lady 
Augusta  Mun-ay,  daughter  of  a  Scottish  Earl.  (One  of  the  newspapers  of  the 
day  stated,  that  "  Lady  Augusta  soon  became  pregnant,  and  returned  to  Eng- 
land ;  the  Duke  of  Sussex  did  the  same.^^)  This  union,  which  took  place  in 
Italy,  was  confirmed,  on  their  return  to  England,  and  two  children  w^ere  "the 
consekence  of  that  manoover,"  to  use  the  classic  words  of  the  elder  Mr.  Weller. 
One  of  these  was  the  late  Sir  Augustus  d'Este,  who  unsuccessfully  sought  the 
Dukedom  on  his  father's  death,  the  other  (who,  when  I  fii'st  saw  her,  in  1828, 
was  one  of  the  finest  women  in  England)  was  Mademoiselle  d'Este,  who,  in 
middle  age,  mai'ried  Sir  Thomas  Wilde,  created  Lord  Truro  and  Chaiicellor  of 


220  THE  CATHOLIC  DEPUTATION. 

on's  wlaistle  for  Alecto's  horn  *  I  should  like  to  hear  the  hon- 
est and  cordial  langh  of  the  Duke  of  Sussex  at  an  aggregate 
levee  of  Catholics  and  Protestants  at  the  Castle.  I  should 
like  to  hear  the  echoes  of  St.  Patrick's  Hall,t  taking  up  the 
royal  mirth  in  a  long  and  loud  reverberation.  What  might, 
perad venture,  be  an  excess  of  vivacity  in  a  gentleman,  would 
be  condescending  pleasantry  in  a  prince. 

I  understood,  at  Mr.  Brougham's,  that  it  was  intended  to 
give  a  public  dinner  to  the  Catholic  deputies,  at  which  the 
leading  advocates  of  Emancipation  were  to  be  present.  Much 
preparation  was  made  for  this  festival  of  liberality,  but  it  was 
afterAvard  conceived  that  it  would  be  more  judicious  upon  the 
part  of  the  friends  of  religious  liberty  not  to  provoke  their  an- 
tagonists into  a  reaction,  which  it  was  thought  likely  might  be 
produced.  The  idea  was  abandoned  ;  but,  in  order  to  give  the 
deputies  an  opportunity  of  expressing  their  sentiments  in  pub- 
lic, the  British  Catholics  held  a  general  meeting  at  the  Free- 
masons' Hall. 

The  Duke  of  Norfolk  was  in  the  chair.f     The  assembly  was 

England  in  1850. —  The  Prince's  marriage  was  dissolved  by  the  Prerogative 
Court,  and  the  union  accordingly  ended  in  separation.  At  the  age  of 
twenty-eight,  Prince  Augustus  was  created  Duke  of  Sussex,  with  an  allowance 
of  twelve  thousand  pounds  sterling  a  year,  afterward  raised  to  twenty  thousand 
pounds  sterling  a  year  —  which  he  always  complained  was  too  small !  He  sided 
with  the  Whig  party  —  as  much  as  a  Prince  could.  He  laid  himself  out  for  pop- 
ularity, and,  at  public  dinners  and  charitable  meetings,  was  liberal  in  giving  — 
his  speeches.  He  had  a  fine  library,  and  had  accumulated  a  magnificent  col- 
lection of  Bibles,  in  various  languages  and  of  various  editions.  Some  time 
before  his  death,  he  wedded  the  rich  widow  of  a  city  knight,  bearing  the  illus- 
trious name  of — Buggins  !  She  has  since  been  created  Duchess  of  Inverness. 
Bom  January,  1773,  the  Duke  of  Sussex  died  April,  1843,  aged  seventy.  His 
pompous  manner  would  have  disgusted  the  Irish  in  a  week,  if  he  had  been 
sent  to  Dublin  as  their  Viceroy. —  M. 

*  In  Wieland's  Oberon,  at  the  sound  of  a  magic  whistle,  laughter  is  instanta- 
neously produced ;  a  merriment  takes  the  place  of  sti'ife. 

t  A  spacious  apartment  in  Dublin  Castle,  in  which  Royalty  (personally  or  by 
proxy)  holds  levees  and  diawing-rooms,  and  where  the  Installation  of  Knights 
of  St.  Patrick  generally  takes  place. —  M. 

X  The  Duke  of  Norfolk,  in  1825,  was  a  stout,  red-faced  gentleman,  looking 
very  like  a  London  Aldei-man,  accustomed  to  civic  banquets.  He  was  as  plain 
in  his  manners  as  in  his  appearance.     Indeed,  it  was  reported  that  he  had  been 


FEEEMASONS'-HALL   MEETING.  221 

not  as  numerous  as  I  had  expected  —  it  was  in  a  great  measure 
composed  of  Irish.  Many  persons  were  deterred  from  attend- 
ing by  the  title  of  the  meeting,  which  seemed  to  confine  it  to 
Roman  Catholics.  In  consequence  of  the  impression  that  Prot- 
estants were  not  invited  to  assist  in  these  proceedings,  few  of 
the  Parliamentary  supporters  of  Emancipation  attended.  Mr. 
Coke,  of  Norfolk,  who  sat  next  to  the  chairman,  was  almost  the 
only  English  Protestant  of  distinction  whom  I  observed  at  the 
meeting.*  I  believe,  however,  that  an  anxiety  to  hear  Mr. 
O'Connell,  induced  a  great  number  of  the  literary  men  attached 
to  the  periodical  and  daily  press  to  attend. 

Mr.  O'Connell  appeared  to  me  extremely  solicitous  about  the 
impression  which  he  should  produce,  and  prepared  and  arranged 
his  topics  with  unusual  care.  In  public  meetings  in  Ireland, 
he  is  so  confident  in  his  powers,  that  he  gives  himself  little 
trouble  in  the  selection  of  his  materials,  and  generally  trusts 
to  his  emotions  for  his  harangues.t     He  is,  on  that  account,  oc- 

known  as  "  Mr.  Howard,"  a  wine-merchant,  in  one  of  the  streets  off  the  Strand, 
in  London',  before  the  death  of  "  the  dirty  Duke,"  without  legitimate  male 
issue,  drove  "  all  the  blood  of  all  the  Howards"  up  to  fever-heat,  in  expectation 
of  turning  out  next  of  kin.  The  Duke,  with  the  uncleanly  soubriquet,  had 
turned  Protestant,  in  order  to  sit  in  Parliament.  The  present  Duke  has  also 
abjured  the  faith  of  his  ancestors.  The  "  dirty  Duke"  never  underwent  volun- 
tary ablution,  but,  once  or  twice  a  week,  when  dead-drunk,  was  stripped,  laid 
upon  a  table,  soaped,  scrubbed,  and  towelled,  into  a  state  of  comparative  clean- 
liness.—  The  Dukedom,  conferred  in  1483,  is  the  oldest  in  England,  and  its 
owner  is  therefore  Premier  Duke.  He  is  also  Hereditary  Earl-Marshal,  and, 
as  such,  has  the  regulation  of  the  coronation  ceremonies,  and  attests  the  signa- 
ture of  the  Sovereign  to  the  documents  wherein  Peers,  Peereisses,  Privy  Coun- 
cillors, and  others,  are  invited  to  participate  in  the  pageant. — M. 

*  Thomas  William  Coke,  of  Holkham,  in  the  county  of  Norfolk,  was  a  de- 
scendant of  Sir  Edward  Coke,  the  gi-eat  lawyer,  and  will  be  chiefly  remembered 
for  the  extent  and  success  of  his  improvements  in  English  agriculture,  by  which 
he  raised  the  value  of  his  estates  from  two  thousand  to  twenty  thousand  pounds 
sterling  a  year.  He  was  of  the  extreme  liberal  party,  from  whom  he  presented 
so  many  remonstrant  addresses  to  George  HI.,  that  his  Majesty  jocosely  said, 
"  Coke,  if  you  bring  me  another  of  these,  I'll  certainly  knight  you"  —  a  severe 
threat  to  a  man  who  prided  himself  on  his  old  family,  had  declined  a  baronetcy 
as  too  low,  and  claimed  a  dormant  earldom.  His  friends  the  Whigs,  with 
whom  he  had  always  voted,  created  him  Earl  of  Leicester  in  1837,  when  he 
was  eighty-five  years  old.     He  died  in  June,  1842,  aged  ninety.  —  M. 

t  The  character  of  O'Connell's  eloquence  has  never  been  clearly  indicated. 


222  THE   CATHOLIC   DEPITTATION. 

casionally  desultory  and  irregular.  But  there  is  no  man  more 
capable  of  lucid  exposition,  when  he  previously  deliberates 
upon  the  order  in  which  he  should  array  the  topics  upon  which 
he  intends  to  dwell.  He  undertook,  on  this  occasion,  the  very 
laborious  task  of  tracing  the  progress  of  the  penal  code,  and 
epitomized  in  some  measure  the  history  of  his  country.  For 
the  first  hour  he  was,  perhaps,  a  little  encumbered  with  small  de- 
tails ;  but  when  he  advanced  into  the  general  consideration  of 
the  grievances  under  which  the  great  body  of  the  people  are 
doomed  to  labor  —  when  he  painted  the  insolence  of  the  domi- 
nant faction  —  when  he  showed  the  effects  of  the  penal  code 
brought  to  his  own  door — he  seized  with  an  absolute  dominion 
upon  the  sympathies  of  his  acclaiming  auditors,  and  poured  the 
full  tide  of  his  own  emotions  into  their  hearts.  I  did  not  greatly 
heed  the  results  of  Mr.  O'Connell's  oratory  upon  the  great  bulk 
of  his  audience.  Many  a  big  drop,  compounded  of  heat  and 
patriotism,  of  tears  and  of  perspiration,  stood  upon  the  rude  and 
honest  faces  that  were  cast  in  true  Hibernian  mould,  and  were 
raised  toward  the  glory  of  Ireland  with  a  mixed  expression  of 
wonder  and  of  love.  I  was  far  more  anxious  to  detect  thq  feel- 
ing produced  upon  the  literary  and  English  portion  of  the  au- 
dience.    It  was  most  favorable. 

Mr.  Charles  Butler,  near  whom  I  happened  to  sit,  and  whom 

Its  leading  feature  was  intense  earnestness.  Whatever  his  style,  and  it  would 
vary  a  dozen  times  in  the  same  speech,  he  always  had  a  pui^ose.  He  was  not 
a  man  to  string  words  together  into  pretty  sentences,  as  women  string  beads  of 
coral,  but  he  spoke  with  a  will  and  with  an  aim.  His  Irish  auditors  expected 
to  be  amused  as  well  as  roused,  and  O'Connell  entertained  as  well  as  excited 
tliem.  He  had  dropped  his  plummet  into  the  Irish  heart,  and  sounded  its  re- 
motest depths.  He  has  been  compared,  at  various  times,  to  the  great  orators 
whom  Ireland  has  produced ;  but  he  resembled  none  of  them  singly.  He  had 
less  imagination  than  Curran,  less  philosophy  than  Burke,  less  wit  than  Can- 
ning, less  rhetoric  than  Sheil,  less  classicahty  than  Bushe,  less  eloquence  than 
Plunket,  less  pathos  than  Grattan  ;  but  he  had  more  power  than  any  of  them. 
His  language  v/as  forcible,  even  when  he  was  most  playful.  And,  when  ad- 
dressing an  Irish  audience,  he  applied  himself  to  charm  them,  there  was  such 
an  alternation  of  style  —  now  soaring  to  the  loftiest,  and  now  subsiding  to  the 
most  familiar  —  that  he  carried  all  hearts  with  him,  until  the  listeners  seemed 
under  the  spell  of  an  enchanter,  moved  to  anger  or  to  mirth  even  as  he  might 
desire.     This  was  to  be  indeed  a  g»3at  orator,  and  this  was  O'Connell.  —  M. 


MR.  sheil's  speech.  223 

I  should  be  disposed  to  accoimt  a  severe  but  excellent  critic, 
was  greatly  struck.  He  several  times  expressed  his  admira- 
tion of  the  powers  of  the  speaker.  The  applause  of  such  a  man 
is  worth  that  of  a  "  whole  theatre  of  others."  Mr.  Coke,  also, 
whose  judgment  is,  I  understand,  held  in  very  great  estima- 
tion, and  who  has  witnessed  the  noblest  displays  of  Parliament- 
ary eloquence,  intimated  an  equally  high  opinion.  Immedi- 
ately under  Mr.  O'Oonnell  there  was  an  array,  and  a  very  for- 
midable one,  of  the  delegates  from  the  press.  They  appeared 
to  me  to  survey  Mr.  O'Oonnell  with  a  good  deal  of  supercilious 
distaste  at  the  opening  of  his  speech ;  and,  although  some 
among  them  persevered  to  the  last  in  their  intimations  of  na- 
tional disrelish,  and  shrugged  their  shoulders  at  "  Irish  elo- 
quence," the  majority  surrendered  their  prejudices  to  their 
good  feelings,  and  ultimately  concurred  in  the  loud  plaudits 
v/ith  which  Mr.  O'Oonnell  concluded  his  oration.  It  occupied 
nearly  three  hours  and  a  half. 

Mr.  O'Hanlon  succeeded  Mr.  O'Oonnell.  He  spoke  well, 
but  the  auditory  were  exhausted,  and  began  to  break  up.  Less 
attention  was  paid  to  Mr.  O'Hanlon  than  he  would  have  re- 
ceived at  a  more  opportune  moment.  The  excitation  produced 
by  Mr.  O'Oonnell,  the  lateness  of  the  hour,  and  the  recollec- 
tions of  dinner,  were  potent  impediments  to  rhetorical  effect. 

Mr.  Sheil  rose  under  similar  disadvantages.  He  cast  that 
sort  of  look  about  him  which  I  have  witnessed  in  an  actor  when 
he  surveys  an  empty  house.  The  echo  produced  by  the  dimi- 
nution of  the  crowd  drowned  his  voice,  which,  being  naturally 
of  a  harsh  quality,  requires  great  management,  and,  in  order  to 
produce  any  oratorical  impression,  must  be  kept  under  the  control 
of  art.  Mr.  Sheil  became  disheartened,  and  lost  his  command 
over  his  throat.  He  grew  loud  and  indistinct.  He  also  fell  into 
the  mistake  of  laying  aside  his  habitual  cast  of  expression  and 
of  thought,  and,  in  place  of  endeavoring  to  excite  the  feelings 
of  his  auditory,  wearied  them  with  a  laborious  detail  of  unin- 
teresting facts.  He  failed  to  produce  any  considerable  impres- 
sion  excepting  at  the  close  of  his  speech,  in  which,  after  dwel- 
ling upon  the  great  actions  which  were  achieved  by  the  Catho- 
lic ancestors  of  some  of  the  eminent  men  around  him,  he  intro- 


224  THE    CATHOLTO    DICPUTATION. 

duced  Jean  of  Arc  prophesying  to  Talbot  the  observation  of 
his  illustrious  name,  and  the  exclusion  of  his  posterity  from  the 
councils  of  his  country.* 

I  should  not  omit  to  mention  the  speech  delivered  by  Lord 
Stourton  at  this  meeting.  It  was  easy  to  collect  from  his  man- 
ner that  he  was  not  in  the  habit  of  addressing  a  large  assem- 
bly, but  the  sentiments  to  which  he  gave  utterance  were  high 
and  manly,  and  becoming  a  British  nobleman  who  had  been 
spoliated  of  his  rights.  His  language  was  not  only  elegant 
and  refined,  but  adorned  with  imagery  of  an  original  cast,  de- 
rived from  those  sciences  with  which  his  Lordship  is  said  to 
be  familiar .f  Some  of  the  deputies  dined  with  him  after  the 
meeting.     They  were  sumptuously  entertained. 

I  had  now  become  more  habituated  to  the  display  of  patri- 
cian magnificence  in  England,  and  saw  the  exhibition  of  its 
splendor  without  surprise.  Yet  I  confess  that  at  Norfolk- house, 
where  the  Duke  did  Mr.  O'Connell,  Lord  Killeen,  and  others 
of  our  deputation,  the  honor  to  invite  them,  and,  in  compliment 
to  our  cause,  brought  together  an  assemblage  of  men  of  the 
highest  rank  and  genius  in  England,  I  was  dazzled  with  the 
splendor  and  gorgeousness  of  an  entertainment  to  which  I  had 
seen  no  parallel.  Norfolk-house  is  one  of  the  finest  in  London. 
The  interior,  which  is  in  the  style  prevalent  about  eighty  years 
ago  in  England,  realizes  the  notions  which  one  forms  of  a  pal- 
ace. It  was  indeed  occupied  at  one  time  by  some  members  of 
the  royal  family ;  and  the  Duke  told  us  that  the  late  King 
[George  III.]  was  born  in  the  room  in  which  we  dined.  We 
passed  through  a  series  of  magnificent  apartments,  rich  with 
crimson  and  fretted  with  gold.  There  was  no  glare  of  exces- 
sive light  in  this  vast  and  seemingly  endless  mansion  ;  and  the 
massive  lamps  which  were  suspended  from  the  embossed  and 
gilded  ceilings,  diffused  a  shadowed  illumination,  and  left  the 

*  Mr.  Sheil,  whose  speech  at  this  meeting  was  a  failure  —  the  patience  of 
his  audience  having  been  exhausted  before  he  rose  —  adroitly  attempts  here  to 
explain  away  the  fact.  From  some  cause  or  other,  his  voice,  naturally  shrill, 
almost  wholly  failed  him,  and  his  auditors  were  greatly  disappointed.  —  M. 

t  The  Lord  Stourton  here  mentioned  was  the  seventeenth  Baron  of  that  name, 
the  peerage  bearing  date  1448.     The  family  is  Catholic.  —  M. 


THE   DUKE   OF   NORFOLK.  225 

distance  in  the  dusk.  The  transition  to  the  great  chamber 
where  the  company  were  assembled,  and  which  was  glowing 
with  light,  presented  a  brilliant  and  imposing  contrast.  Here 
we  found  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  surrounded  by  persons  of  high 
distinction.  Among  the  company  were  the  Dukes  of  Sussex, 
Devonshire,  and  Leinster,  Lord  Grey,  Lord  Fitzwilliam,  Lord 
Shrewsbury,  Lord  Donoughmore,  Lord  Stourton,  Lord  Clifford, 
Lord  Nugent,  Lord  Arundel,  Sir  Francis  Burdett,  Mr.  Butler, 
Mr.  Abercrombie,  Mr.  Blunt,  Mr.  Denman,  and  other  persons  of 
eminence  and  fame.* 

The  Duke  of  Norfolk  came  forward  to  meet  us,  and  gave  us 
a  cordial  and  cheerful  welcome.  This  amiable  nobleman  is 
distinguished  by  the  kindness  and  goodness  of  his  manners, 
which  bespeak  an  excellent  and  unassuming  spirit,  and  through 
all  the  political  intercourse  which  we  had  with  him  the  great 
question,  in  which  he  feels  so  deep  an  interest,  manifested  a 
shrewd  sound  sense,  and  a  high  and  intense  anxiety  for  the 
success  of  the  great  cause  of  religious  libe-rty,  from  which  very 
beneficial  results  have  already  ensued.  He  has  been  very 
instrumental  in  effecting  a  junction  between  the  English  and 
L'ish  Roman  Catholics,  and  has  thus  conferred  a  great  service 
upon  both.  We  were  received  by  him  with  the  most  gracious 
and  unaffected  urbanity. 

I  was  struck  with  the  perfect  freedom  from  authoritativeness 
which  characterized  most  of  the  eminent  men  who  were  placed 
about  me.     There  is  among  the  petty  aristocracy  of  Ireland 

*  Of  these,  Lords  Grey,  Shrewsbmy,  Donoughmore,  Clifford,  Arandel,  Mr. 
Butler,  and  Mr.  Blunt,  have  departed  this  life.  Mr.  Abercrombie,  then  a  very 
obscure  man  (who  worked  himself  up,  from  being  the  Duke  of  Devonshire's 
steward), used  his  employer's  interest  to  get  him  made  Chief  Baron  of  the  Ex- 
chequer in  Scotland,  at  four  thousand  pounds  sterling  a  year.  It  was  so  much 
a  sinecure,  that,  in  the  thirty  months  he  held  it,  he  only  tried 'four  cases,  thus 
receiving  ten  thousand  pounds  for  doing  nothing.  The  sinecure  was  abolished, 
and  Abercrombie  was  compensated  by  a  pension  of  two  thousand  pounds,  which 
was  suspended  when  he  was  made  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons  in  1837 
(salary  six  thousand  pounds  a  year,  and  one  thousand  pounds  more  for  a  house), 
and,  after  two  years'  service,  retired  on  a  pension  of  four  thousand  pounds  for 
his  own  life  and  that  of  his  son,  and  a  peerage  as  Baron  Dumferline.  What 
renders  this  more  strange  is,  that  this  man  had  boorish  manners,  no  learning,  no 
eloquence,  nothing  but  the  Duke  of  Devonshire's  patronage  to  push  him  on.  -    M. 

10* 


226  THE  OATnOLIC  DEPUTATION. 

infinitely  more  arrogance  of  port  and  look  than  I  observed 
among  the  first  men  of  the  British  empire.  Certain  of  our 
colonial  aristocracy  are  far  more  bloated  and  full-blown  with  a 
notion  of  their  own  importance.  The  reason  is  obvious.  The 
former  rest  in  security  upon  their  unquestionable  title  to  re- 
spect. Their  dignity  fits  them  like  an  accustomed  garment. 
But  men  who  are  raised  but  to  a  small  elevation,  on  which 
they  hold  a  dubious  ground,  feel  it  necessary  to  impress  their 
consequence  upon  others  by  an  assumption  of  superiority  which 
is  always  offensive,  and  generally  absurd.  Lord  Fitzwilliam 
was  the  person  with  whom  I  was  disposed  to  be  most  pleased. 
This  venerable  nobleman  carries,  with  a  gray  head,  a  young 
and  fresh  heart.  He  may  be  called  the  old  Adam  of  the 
political  world  ;  and  England  might  well  exclaim  to  her  faith- 
ful servant,  in  the  language  of  Orlando  — 

"  Oh,  good  old  man,  how  well  in  thee  appears 
The  constant  service  of  the  antique  world ! 
Thou  art  not  for  the  fashion  of  these  times. 
When  none  will  sweat  but  for  promotion." 

It  is  impossible  to  look  upon  this  amiable  and  dignified 
patrician  of  the  olden  stamp,  without  a  feeling  of  affectionate 
admiration  for  his  pure  and  distinguished  patriotism  and  the 
warm  love  of  his  country,  which  lives  (if  I  may  so  say)  under 
the  ashes  of  age,  and  requires  but  to  be  stirred  to  emit  the 
flashes  of  its  former  fire.  The  natural  apathy  incidental  to  his 
time  of  life,  appears  habitually  to  prevail  over  him  ;  but  speak 
to  him  of  the  great  interests  of  the  empire  —  speak  to  him  of 
that  measure  which  at  an  earlier  period  he  was  delegated 
by  his  sovereign  to  complete  —  speak  to  him  of  Ireland,  and 
through  the  dimness  that  loads  his  eye,  a  sudden  illumination 
will  b^eak  forth.  For  Ireland  he  entertains  a  kind  of  pa- 
ternal tenderness.  He  reverted  with  a  Nestorian  pride  to 
the  period  of  his  own  government ;  and  mentioned  that  he 
had  preserved  the  addresses  which  he  had  received  from 
the  Roman  Catholic  body  as  among  the  best  memorials  of 
his  political  life.  That  he  should  live  long  enough  to  see 
the  emancipation  of  the  Irish  people,  seemed  to  be  the  wish 
nearest  to  his  heart.     It  does  one  good  —  it  is  useful  in  a  moral 


LORD   GEEY.  227 

point  of  view,  to  approach  such  a  person  as  Lord  Fitzwilliam, 
and  to  feel  that  there  is  in  public  men  such  a  thing  as  a  pure 
and  disinterested  anxiety  for  the  benefit  of  mankind,  and  that 
the  vows  of  all  politicians  are  not,  whatever  we  may  be  disposed 
to  think,  "  as  false  as  dicers'  oaths." 

In  describing  the  impression  produced  upon  me  by  Lord 
Fitzwilliam,  I  have  mentioned  the  result  of  my  observation  at 
Mr.  Ponsonby's,  where  the  deputies  afterward  met  him,  as  well 
as  at  Norfolk  house.  Lord  Grey  also  dined  at  Mr.  Ponsonby's, 
where  I  had  a  better  opportunity  of  noting  him.*     He  is  some- 

*  Charles,  Earl  Grey,  born  in  1764,  was  M.  P.  for  his  native  county  of 
Northumberland,  almost  as  soon  as  he  attained  his  majority.  He  soon  display- 
ed ability,  as  a  debater  on  the  liberal  side,  and  was  associated  with  Burke, 
Sheridan,  and  others,  as  one  of  the  managers  of  the  impeachment  of  Warren 
Hastings.  He  went  beyond  Fox  in  his  democratical  opinions.  On  Pitt's  death, 
in  1806,  when  "  All  the  Talents"  formed  a  Cabinet,  of  which  Fox  was  the  ac- 
'tual,  while  the  Duke  of  Portland  was  the  nominal  head,  Mr.  Grey  (who  now 
bore  the  honorary  title  of  Viscount  Howick,  his  father  having  been  made  Earl 
Grey  in  1802)  took  office  as  First  Lord  of  the  Admii'alty.  In  October,  1806, 
Lord  Howick  succeeded  Fox  as  Foreign  Secretary,  but  the  Ministry  soon 
broke  up,  and,  on  the  death  of  his  father  in  1807,  he  went  to  the  Upper  House, 
as  Earl  Grey,  and  warmly  defended  Queen  Caroline  in  1820.  He  remained 
out  of  office  until  November  1830,  but  on  two  or  three  occasions,  when  a  Coa- 
lition ministry  was  talked  of,  there  were  negotiations  (always  ending  in  failure) 
to  bring  in  Lord  Grey.  His  personal  pride  intervened  —  as  he  wanted  first 
place,  or  none.  This,  no  doubt,  made  him  strongly  oppose  Canning's  Miuistiy, 
in  1827  —  it  was  "most  tolerable  and  not  to  be  endured"  that  a  mere  common- 
er should  be  Prime  Minister,  while  Earl  Grey  was  ready  and  anxious  for  the 
office  !  At  last,  in  1830,  he  obtained  the  prize  —  because  Parliamentary  Reform 
was  needed,  and,  as  Mr.  Grey,  he  had  suggested  a  plan  some  five-and-thirty 
yeai's  before.  After  a  great  struggle.  Reform  was  granted  —  more  than  Grey 
actually  thought  prudent  to  bestow  (having  such  a  horror  of  democratic  in- 
roads that  he  once  publicly  declared  that  "  he  would  stand  by  his  order")  but 
less  than  his  son-in-law,  Lord  Durham,  thought  was  wise  and  just.  In  July, 
1834,  he  resigned  office,  and  took  no  further  part  in  politics.  He  died,  July, 
1845,  aged  eighty-one.  As  Minister  of  the  Crown,  he  had  one  overpowering 
fault,  which  Peel  was  eminently  free  from  —  that  of  nepotism.  It  really  appeared 
as  if  the  object  of  his  taking  office  was  to  provide  for  his  family,  his  connections, 
for  every  one  named  Grey.  For  this  he  was  constantly  baited  by  Cobbett,  who 
published  what  he  called  "  The  Grey  List,"  stating  the  various  offices  to  which 
Grey  had  been  appointed,  giving  the  name  of  each  official,  and  showing  that 
they  were  the  recipients  of  about  one  hundred  and  seventy  thousand  pounds 
sterling  a  year  —  all,  but  twenty  thousand  pounds  sterling,  being  derived  from 


228  THE  CATHOLIC  DEPUTATION. 

what  silent  and  reserved.  It  is  the  fashion  among  Tories  to 
account  him  contemptuous  and  haughty  ;  hut  I  can  not  coincide 
with  them.  He  has,  indeed,  a  lofty  bearing,  but  it  is  not  at 
all  artificial.  It  is  the  aristocracy  of  virtue  as  well  as  rank. 
There  is  something  uncompromising,  and  perhaps  stern  as 
well  as  inflexible  in  his  aspect.  Tall,  erect,  and  collected  iu 
himself,  he  carries  the  evidences  of  moral  and  intellectual 
ascendency  impressed  upon  him,  and  looks  as  if  he  knew  him- 
self to  be,  in  the  proudest  sense  which  the  poet  has  attached 
to  the  character,  not  only  a  great  but  an  honest  man.  And 
why  should  he  not  look  exactly  what  he  is  ?  Why  should  he 
not  wrap  himself  in  the  consciousness  of  his  political  integrity, 
and  seem  to  say,  "  mea  virtute  involvo,''^  while  so  many  others, 
who  were  once  the  companions  of  his  journey,  and  who  turned 
aside  into  a  more  luxuriant  road,  in  taking  a  retrospect,  as  the 
close  of  life  is  drawing  near,  of  the  mazy  course  which  they 
have  trod,  behold  it  winding  through  a  rich  and  champagne 
country,  and  occasionally  deviating  into  low  but  not  unpro- 
ductive declivities  ?  This  eminent  man,  in  looking  back  from 
the  point  of  moral  elevation  on  which  he  stands,  will  trace  his 
path  in  one  direct  and  unbroken  line  —  through  a  lofty  region 
which  has  been  barren  of  all  but  fame,  and  from  which  no 
allurement  of  ease,  or  of  profusion,  could  ever  induce  him  to 
depart. 

Lord  Grey  has  a  touch  of  sadness  upon  him,  which  would 
look  dissatisfaction  to  a  placeman's  eye ;  but  there  is  nothing 
really  morose  or  atrabilious  in  his  expression.  He  has  found 
that  sorrow  can  unbar  the  palaces  of  the  great,  as  well  as 
unlatch  the  cottages  of  the  lowly.  His  dear  friend  and  near 
ally  is  gone  —  his  party  is  almost  broken.*     He  has  survived 

life  appointments  !  The  truth  of  these  accusations  was  undeniable,  and  helped, 
no  doubt,  to  account  for  Lord  Grey's  unpopularity  after  the  Reform  struggle 
was  ended.  He  was  an  eloquent  speaker  —  seldom  warmed  into  passion  oi 
even  into  excitement,  but  fluent,  correct,  and  sometimes  rather  forcible. —  M. 

*  The  allusion  here,  appears  to  be  to  Fox,  who,  however,  had  died  nearl} 
nineteen  years  before.  Charles  James  Fox,  born  in  1749,  was  the  second  son 
of  the  first  Lord  Holland,  by  whom  he  was  educated  for  political  life.  At  the 
age  of  nineteen,  two  years  before  the  legal  age,  he  was  elected  member  of  par- 
liament.    From  1770  to  1774,  he  was  an  advocate  of  the  Ministry,  and  was 


CHARLES   JAMES    FOX.  229 

the  death,  and,  let  me  add,  the  virtue  of  many  iRustrious  men, 
and  looks  like  the  lonely  column  of  the  fabric  which  he  sus- 
tained so  nobly,  and  which  has  fallen  at  last  around  him.  It 
is  not  wonderful  that  he  should  seem  to  stand  in  solitary  lofti- 
ness, and  that  melancholy  should  have  given  a  solemn  tinge  to 
his  mind.  He  spoke  of  the  measures  intended  to  be  made 
collateral  to  emancipation,  and  said,t  ♦  *  *  * 

successively  Lord  of  the  Admiralty  and  of  the  Treasury.  At  the  age  of  24, 
the  Ministry  dismissed  him  —  thereby  converting-  a  vv^arm  friend  into  a  bitter 
opponent.  He  resisted  the  American  war,  and  on  Lord  North's  removal,  ob- 
tained a  seat  in  the  Cabinet,  as  Secretaiy  of  State.  The  Rockingham  Adminis- 
ti'ation  breaking  up,  on  the  death  of  its  head.  Lord  Shelburne  became  Premier, 
and  after  some  time,  Fox  coalesced  with  Lord  North  (his  old  antagonist) :  a 
measure  which  nearly  ruined  the  popularity  of  both.  Their  India  Bill  led  to 
their  downfall,  and  the  nomination  of  William  Pitt,  in  his  25th  year,  as  Pre- 
mier. Fox  espoused  the  leading  principles  of  the  French  Revolution,  which 
Pitt  contended  against,  and  this  also  led  to  a  total  rupture  with  Burke,  long 
his  Mend,  and  to  the  erasure  of  his  name,  by  the  hand  of  the  King  himself, 
from  the  Roll  of  the  Privy  Council.  When  Pitt  died,  in  1806,  Lord  Grenville 
drew  Fox  from  opposition,  and  made  him  Foreign  Secretary.  He  did  not  long 
hold  office,  for  which  he  had  so  long  contended,  but  died  in  September,  1806. 
The  eloquence  of  Fox  was  vehement  rather  than  polished,  but  it  was  forcible 
and  effective.  In  private  life  he  was  convivial,  witty,  and  genial.  He  was 
somewhat  of  an  historian,  too,  but  spoke  better  than  he  wrote.  He  was  addict- 
ed to  gaming,  and  was  a  man  of  uncalculating  and  almost  boundless  extrava- 
gance. He  was  buried  in  Westminister  Abbey,  close  to  his  great  rival  Pitt. 
Scott  says 

"  Drop  upon  Fox's  tomb  a  tear 
'Twill  trickle'  to  his  rival's  bier." 
Fox  was  the  intimate  friend  of  the  Prince  of  Wales,  afterward  George  IV., 
for  many  years,  but  the  intimacy  broke  off  after  the  maii^iage  of  the  Prince. —  M. 
t  This  article,  published  May,  1825,  broke  off  thus  abruptly,  with  "  (  The 
Conclusion  in  our  next  Number),^'  holding  out  promise  of  some  more  of  the 
personal  and  political  gossip  which  atti'acted  much  attention  at  the  time.  The 
"conclusion"  never  appeared.  Mr.  Shell  told  me  that,  though  written,  it  was 
suppressed,  at  the  strong  desire  of  the  late  Lord  Grey,  one  of  the  haughtiest 
aristocrats  in  England,  at  the  time,  who  was  alarmed  at  the  idea  of  any  of  his 
table-talk  being  x-eported !  1  believe  that,  until  now,  the  exact  reason  of  this 
BBppression,  though  suspected  at  the  rime,  has  not  been  stated  on  authority. —  M- 


ARCHIBALD  HAMILTON  ROWAN. 

Of  all  the  remarkable  men  I  have  met,  Hamilton  Rowan,  I 
think,  is  the  one  whose  external  appearance  most  completely 
answers  to  the  character  of  his  mind,  and  the  events  of  his 
life.  The  moment  your  eye  has  taken  in  the  whole  of  his  fine 
athletic  configuration,  you  see  at  once  that  nature  designed 
him  to  be  a  great  massive  engine  of  a  popular  cause.  When 
he  entered  life,  he  might  easily  have  taken  his  place  as  a 
leading  member  of  the  aristocracy  of  his  country.  He  had 
high  connections,  a  noble  fortune,  manners  and  accomplish- 
ments that  would  have  graced  a  court  —  but  his  high  and 
adventurous  spirit  could  not  have  brooked  the  sedentary  forms, 
and  still  less  the  despotic  maxims,  of  an  Irish  state-career. 
He  never  could  have  endured  to  sit  at  a  council-board,  with 
his  herculean  limbs  gathered  under  him,  to  deliberate  upon  the 
most  expedient  modes  of  trampling  upon  public  rights.  As  a 
mere  matter  of  animal  propensity,  his  more  natural  vocation 
was  to  take  the  side  of  enterprise  and  danger — to  mingle  in 
the  tumult  of  popular  commotion,  and  leading  on  his  band  of 
citizen-soldiers  "  to  the  portals  of  the  Castle,  to  call  aloud  in 
their  name  for  the  minister  to  come  forth  and  resist  at  his  peril 
the  national  cry  for  'Universal  Emancipation.'"*  This  was 
his  election,  and  his  conscience  coincided  with  his  impulses. 
He  became,  as  might  be  expected,  the  idol  of  the  populace, 
and,  from  the  qualities  which  made  him  so,  too  formidable  to 
the  state  to  be  tolerated.  He  was  prosecuted  and  convicted, 
by  a  tribunal  of  very  doubtful  purity ,f  of  feeling  too  ardently 
for  the  political  degradation  of  Ireland. 

*  See  his  trial  in  Howell's  State  Trials,  for  1794. 

t  See  the  motion  for  a  new  trial,  and  the  documente  the2:3  used. —  Howell's 
State  Trials. 


HIS   PERSONAL    APPEARANCE.  231 

Tims  far  Hamilton  Rowan  had  acted  upon  the  principles  of 
an  Irish  reformer,  and  if  he  avowed  them  indiscreetly,  or 
pushed  them  too  far,  he  suffered  for  it.  In  his  imprisonment, 
w^hich  he  at  least  considered  as  oppression,  he  was  provoked  to 
listen  to  more  dangerous  doctrines.  He  committed  himself  in 
conferences  with  a  spy  who  procured  a  ready  access  to  his 
presence ;  and  to  avoid  the  consequences,  effected  his  escape 
to  a  foreign  land. 

After  several  years  passed  in  wandering  and  exile,  the 
merits  of  his  personal  character  prevailed  against  the  remem- 
brance of  his  political  aberrations,  and  an  act  of  royal  clemency, 
generously  conceded  without  any  humiliating  conditions,  re- 
stored him  once  more  to  his  country.  There  he  has  since 
resided,  in  the  bosom  of  domestic  quiet,  an4  in  the  habitual 
exercise  of  every  virtue  that  can  ennoble  private  life.  He  has 
the  satisfaction,  too,  in  his  old  age,  of  finding  that,  in  a  public 
point  of  view,  his  debt  of  gratitude  to  the  Crown  has  not  been 
wholly  unpaid.  In  his  eldest  son  (Captain  Hamilton,  of  'the 
Cambrian  frigate)  he  has  given  to  the  British  navy  one  of  its 
most  gallant  and  distinguished  commanders,  and  for  whose 
sake  alone  every  man  of  a  generous  spirit  should  abstain  from 
gratuitous  and  cruel  railings  at  the  obsolete  politics  of  the 
father.* 

Hamilton  E-owan's  exterior  is  full  of  interest.  Whether  you 
meet  him  abroad  or  in  a  drawing-room,  you  are  struck  at  once 
with  his  physical  pre-eminence.  Years  have  now  rendered 
his  frame  less  erect,  but  all  the  proportions  of  a  noble  model 
remain.  In  his  youth  he  was  remarkable  for  feats  of  strength 
and  activity.  The  latter  quality  was  put  to  no  ordinary  test, 
in  a  principal  incident  of  his  life,  to  which  I  shall  presently 
refer.  His  face,  both  in  feature  and  expression,  is  in  strict 
accordance  with  the  rest  of  his  person.  It  has  nothing  deno- 
ting extraordinary  comprehension,  or  subtlety  of  intellect ;  but 
in  its  masculine  outline,  which  the  workings  of  time  have 
brought  out  into  more  prominent  relief — in  the  high  and  bushy 

*  This  son,  who  died  before  his  venerable  father,  eminently  distinguished  liim- 
self  in  the  contest  for  the  independence  of  Greece,  and  his  father  never  reco^ 
cred  his  loss. —  M  • 


232  ARCHIBALD    HAMILTON   EOWAN. 

brow  —  the  unblencliing  eye  —  the  compressed  lips,  and  in  the 
composed  yet  somewhat  stern  stability  of  expression  that  marks 
the  whole,  you  find  the  symbols  of  high  moral  determination  — 
of  fidelity  to  principle  —  of  self-reliance  and  self-oblivion,  and 
above  all  of  an  uncompromising  personal  courage,  that  could 
front  every  form  of  danger  face  to  face* 

The  austerity  of  his  countenance  vanishes  the  moment  he 
addresses  you.  His  manners  have  all  the  fascination  of  the 
old  school.  Every  tone  of  his  voice  is  softened  by  an  innate 
and  undeviating  courtesy  that  makes  no  distinctions  of  rank 
or  sex.  In  the  trivial  details  of  common  life,  Hamilton  Kowan 
is  as  gentle  and  complimentary  to  men  as  other  men  are  in 
their  intercourse  with  females.  This  suavity  of  demeanor  is 
not  the  velvet  of  art ;  it  is  only  one  of  the  signs  of  a  compre- 
hensive philanthropy,  Avhich  as  habitually  breaks  out  in  acts 
of  genuine  sympathy  and  munificent  relief,  wherever  a  case  of 
human  suffering  occurs  within  its  range. 

The  circumstances  of  Hamilton  Rowan's  escape  from  im- 
prisonment, as  I  once  heard  them  minutely  detailed,  possessed 
all  the  interest  of  a  romantic  narrative.  The  following  are 
such  of  the  leading  particulars  as  I  can  recall,  to  my  recollec- 
tion. Having  discovered  (on  the  28th  of  April,  1794)  the 
extent  of  the  danger  in  which  he  was  involved,  he  arranged  a 

*  Archibald  Hamilton  Rowan,  who  must  have  been  a  giant  in  his  prime, 
was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  I  ever  saw.  One  might  almost  think  he 
had  been  made  for  one  purpose  —  digito  monstrari  !  He  was  long  past  seventy 
when  I  saw  him.  In  stature  he  was  even  as  one  of  the  sons  of  Anak.  His 
strongly-marked  features  indicated  firmness  and  benevolence.  His  eyes,  dark 
and  flashing,  beneath  shaggy  brows.  His  port,  lofty.  His  stride,  large.  His 
manners,  of  the  old  school  of  gentlest  courtesy  —  but  his  frown,  when  offended 
or  excited,  positively  frightening !  Crowds  used  to  watch  for  a  sight  of  this 
line  "  old  Irish  gentleman,"  as  he  came  out  of  the  club-house  in  Kildai'e  street, 
bearing  in  his  hand  a  mighty  blackthorn  (which  might  have  served  Hercules 
for  a  club),  and  escorted,  on  either  side,  by  two  immense  Irish  wolf-dogs,  re- 
ported to  be  the  veiy  last  of  their  race.  Looking  at  him,  and  surveying  the  gen- 
eration among  whom  he  towered,  like  a  forest-oak  over  a  crowd  of  plantation 
shrubs,  a  contemplative  man  might  sigh,  and  utter,  "  There  were  Men  —  in  the 
days  when  he  began  to  live."  Mr.  Rowan  died  in  November,  1834,  aged 
eighty-four.  In  his  latter  years  he  was  much  afflicted  with  deafness,  and  grief 
for  his  gallant  son,  Captain  Hamilton,  who  died  before  him,  had  affected  hi« 
strong  and  truly  masculine  mind. —  M 


HIS   ESCAPE.  233 

plan  of  flight  to  be  put  into  execution  on  the  night  of  the  1st 
of  May.  He  had  the  address  to  prevail  on  the  jailer  of  New- 
gate, who  knew  nothing  farther  of  his  prisoner  than  that  he 
was  under  sentence  of  confinement  for  a  political  libel,  to 
accompany  him  at  night  to  Mr.  Eowan's  own  house.*  They 
were  received  by  Mrs.  R.,  who  had  a  supper  prepared  in  the 
front  room  of  the  second  floor.  The  supper  over,  the  prisoner 
requested  the  jailer's  permission  to  say  a  word  or  two  in  private 
to  his  Avife  in  the  adjoining  room.  The  latter  consented,  on 
the  condition  of  the  door  between  the  two  rooms  remaining 
open.  He  had  so  little  suspicion  of  what  was  meditated,  that 
instead  of  examining  the  state  of  this  other  room,  he  contented 
himself  with  shifting  his  chair  at  the  supper-table  so  as  to  give 
him  a  view  of  the  open  doorway.  In  a  few  seconds  his  pris- 
oner was  beyond  his  reach,  having  descended  by  a  single  rope, 
which  had  been  slung  from  the  window  of  the  back  chamber. 

In  his  stable  he  found  a  horse  ready  saddled,  and  a  peas- 
ant's outside  coat  to  disguise  him.f  With  these  he  posted  to 
the  house  of  his  attorney,  Matthew  Dowling,  who  was  in  the 
secret  of  his  design,  and  had  promised  to  contribute  to  its 
success  by  his  counsel  and  assistance.  Dowling  was  at  home, 
but  unfortunately  his  house  was  full  of  company.  He  came 
out  to  the  street  to  Mr.  Eowan,  who  personated  the  character 
of  a  country  client,  and  hastily  pointing  out  the  great  risk  to 
be  incurred  from  any  attempt  to  give  him  refuge  in  his  own 
house,  directed  him  to  proceed  to  the  Eotunda  (a  public  build- 
ing in  Sackville  street,  with  an  open  space  in  front)  and  re- 
main there  until  Dowling  could  despatch  his  guests,  and  come 
to  him.  Irish  guests  were  in  those  days  rather  slow  to  separ- 
ate from  the  bottle.  For  one  hour  and  a  half  the  fugitive  had 
to  wait,  leading  his  horse  up  and  down  before  the  Eotunda, 
and  tortured  between  fear  and  hope  at  the  appearance  of  every 
person  tliat  approached.  He  has  often  represented  this  as  the 
most  trying  moment  of  his  life. 

*  Li  order,  he  pretended,  to  make  out  a  deed,  as  fear  had  been  expressed 
that  such  an  instrument  signed  in  prison  would  be  invalid. —  M. 

t  Rowan  states,  in  his  autobiography,  by  which  I  correct  Mr.  Sheil's  narrative^ 
that,  when  he  v^as  in  his  wife's  room,  he  changed  his  dress  of  a  herdsman. —  M. 


234  ARCHIBALD    TTAMTLTON    ROWAN. 

Dowling  at  length  arrived,  and  after  a  short  and  anxious 
conference,  advised  him  to  mount  his  horse,  and  make  for  the 
country-house  of  their  friend  Mr.  Sweetman,  Avhich  was  situate 
about  four  miles  off,  on  the  northern  side  of  the  bay  of  Dublin, 
This  place  he  reached  in  safety,  and  found  there  the  refuge 
and  aid  which  he  sought.*  After  a  delay  of  two  or  three  days 
Mr.  Sweetman  engaged  three  boatmen  of  the  neighborhood  to 
man  his  own  pleasure-boat,  and  convey  Hamilton  Rowan  to 
the  coast  of  France.  They  put  to  sea  at  night ;  but  a  gale  of 
wind  coming  on,  they  were  compelled  to  put  back,  and  take 
shelter  under  the  lee  of  the  Hill  of  Howth.  While  at  anchor 
there  on  the  following  morning  a  small  revenue-cruiser  sailing 
by  threw  into  the  boat  copies  of  the  proclamations  that  had 
been  issued,  offering  two  thousand  pounds  sterling  for  the  ap- 
prehension of  Hamilton  Rowan.  The  weather  having  moder- 
ated, the  boat  pushed  out  to  sea  again.  They  had  reached  the 
mid-channel,  when  a  situation  occurred  almost  equalling  in 
dramatic  interest  the  celebrated  Ccasarem  vehis  of  antiquity. 
It  would  certainly  make  a  fine  subject  for  a  picture.  As  the 
boat  careered  along  before  a  favorable  wind,  the  exiled  Irish- 
man perceived  the  boatmen  grouped  apart,  perusing  one  of  the 
proclamations,  and  by  their  significant  looks  and  gestures, 
discovering  that  they  had  recognised  the  identity  of  their 
passenger,  with  the  printed  description.  "  Your  conjectures 
are  right,  my  lads,"  said  Rowan,  "my  life  is  in  your  hands  — 
but  you  are  Irishmen."  They  flung  the  proclamation  over- 
board, and  the  boat  continued  her  course.t     On  the  third  morn- 

*  The  moment  his  escape  fi-om  prison  was  known,  parties  of  soldiers  were  sent 
in  pursuit  of  him,  in  all  directions,  and  in  his  place  of  concealment  he  could- 
hear  their  measured  tread. —  M. 

t  It  is  now  several  years  since  the  particulars  of  Mr.  Rowan's  escape  were 
related  to  me  by  a  friendj  as  they  had  been  communicated  to  him  by  the  prin- 
cipal actor  himself;  and  my  present  recollection  is  that  the  above  incident  was 
not  included.  I  have  often  heard  it,  as  I  have  given  it,  from  other  sources. 
[What  little  money  Rowan  had  with  him,  he  divided  equally  among  these 
noble  men,  to  whose  generosity  and  quick  sense  of  honor  he  owed  his  life  — 
for  had  he  been  recaptured,  he  would  assuredly  have  been  tried,  and,  if  tried, 
convicted,  as  his  co-conspirator  Jackson  was. — There  is  an  anecdote  connected 
with  Jackson's  not  escaping  which  interests  me  much  more  than  Rowan's  es- 
cape.    Jackson  was  an  Iiish  clergyman  sent  over  from  France,  in  1794,  to  as- 


Jackson's  chivalry.  235 

ing,  a  little  after  break  of  day,  they  arrived  within  view  of 
St.  Paul  de  Leon,  a  fortified  town,  on  the  coast  of  Bretagne. 
As  the  sun  rose,  it  dispersed  a  dense  fog  that  had  prevailed 
overnight,  and  discovered  a  couple  of  miles  behind  them,  mov- 
ing along  under  easy  sail,  the  British  Channel  fleet,  through 
the  thick  of  which  their  little  boat  had  just  shot  unperceived. 

The  party,  having  landed,  were  arrested  as  spies,  and  cast 
into  prison,  but  in  a  few  days  an  order  from  the  French  govern- 
ment procured  their  liberation.  Hamilton  Rowan  proceeded 
to  Paris,  from  which,  in  a  political  convulsion  that  shortly  en- 
sued, it  was  his  fate  once  more  to  seek  for  safety  in  flight.  He 
escaped  this  time  unaccompanied,  in  a  wherry,  which  he  rowed 
himself  down  the  Seine.  The  banks  were  lined  ^vith  military; 
but  he  answered  their  challenges  with  so  much  address,  that  he 
was  allowed  to  pass  on  unmolested.  Having  reached  a  French 
port,  he  embarked  for  the  United  States  of  America,  where,  at 
length,  he  found  a  secure  asylum. 

Hamilton  Rowan,  though  of  Irish  blood,  was  born  and  edu- 
cated- in  England.  In  his  youth  he  acquired  a  large  property 
under  the  will  of  his  maternal  grandfather,  Mr.  Rowan,  a  bar- 
rister and  lay -fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  who,  in  a  kind 
of  prophetic  spirit,  made  it  a  condition  of  the  bequest,  "  that 
his  grandson  should  not  come  to  Ireland  until  after  he  should 
be  twenty-five  years  old." 

certain  whether  if  the  Directory  invaded  Ireland,  the  mass  of  the  people  would 
receive  the  French.  He  communicated  his  business  to  an  attorney  in  London, 
who  sold  him  to  Pitt,  and  was  employed  to  follow  Jackson  to  Ireland  and  watch 
him.  After  a  time,  the  informer  "  gave  tongue,"  and  Jackson  was  aixested  — 
he  was  subsequently  tried  (the  first  case  of  high  treason  in  L-eland  for  more 
than  a  century),  convicted,  and  brought  up  for  judgment,  but  he  evaded  it,  by 
taking  poison,  and  died  in  the  dock,  his  last  words,  which  were  addressed  to 
Curran,  being  those  of  PieiTe,  "  We  have  deceived  the  senate."  When  in 
prison,  Jackson  was  visited  by  a  friend  who  remained  until  late  at  night.  Jack- 
son went  with  him  to  the  door  where  the  jailer  generally  waited.  They  found 
the  man  asleep  and  the  prison-keys  by  his  side,  on  the  ground.  Jackson 
took  them  up,  opened  the  prison-door,  and  was  urged  by  his  friend  to  escape. 
He  hesitated  for  a  moment — "  No,"  said  he,  "  I  could  do  it,  but  what  would 
the  consequences  be  to  this  poor  fellow,  who  has  been  so  kind  to  me  ?  Let 
me  remain  and  meet  my  fate."  He  closed  the  door,  turning  from  his  fi'iend 
and  liberty,  locked  himself  in,  and  resumed  his  place  in  the  dungeon. —  M.] 


JOHN  LESLIE   FOSTER, 

The  first  opportunity  I  had  of  closely  observing  the  eminent 
statesman  and  celebrated  legislator  whose  name  is  prefixed  to 
this  article,  was  afiPorded  by  the  Louth  election  [1826J.  Mr.  Fos- 
ter is  so  intimately  connected  with  that  remarkable  event,  that 
some  account  of  the  details  which  accompanied  it  will  not 
be  inappropriate.  The  standard  of  the  Association  had  been 
raised  in  Waterford,  and  Yilliers  Stuart  proclaimed  himself  the 
antagonist  of  the  House  of  Curraghmore.  All  eyes  were  directed 
to  the  field  in  which  the  great  contest  was  to  be  Avaged.  Both 
the  combatants  brought  hereditary  rank  and  vast  opulence  as 
their  allies,  besides  the  auxiliary  passions  of  the  powerful  par- 
ties to  which  they  were  respectively  attached.  There  was, 
however,  nothing  surprising  in  the  enterprise  of  Mr.  Stuart. 
During  his  minority,  the  savings  of  his  estate  had  accumulated 
to  a  very  large  sum,  and  he  was  possessed  of  the  means  of 
engaging  in  a  bold  political  adventure,  without  running  any 
risk  of  permanently  injuring  his  fortune.  It  would  have  been 
far  stranger  if,  with  his  large  property  and  his  enlightened 
opinions,  he  had  allowed  the  Beresfords  to  maintain  an  undis- 
puted masterdom  in  his  county. 

While  the  national  attention  was  fixed  upon  the  events 
which  were  taking  place  in  Waterford,  news  arrived  in  Dublin 
which  excited  a  far  greater  sensation  than  the  contest  between 
the  two  rival  patricians  of  Dromona  and  Curraghmore ;  and  it 
was  announced  that  Mr.  Alexander  Dawson,  a  retired  barrister 
with  a  small  fortune,  had  started  for  Louth.  In  that  county 
the  Protestant  gentry  were  regarded  as  omnipotent.  For 
upward  of  half  a  century,  the  Jocelyns  and  the  Fosters  had 


LOUTH    ELECTION.  237 

returned  two  members  to  Parliament,  and  divided  the  county, 
like  a  family  borough,  between  them.  A  strong  and  appa- 
rently indissoluble  coalition  had  been  effected  between  Lord 
Roden*  and  Lord  Oriel ;  and  it  was  supposed  to  be  impossible 
to  make  any  effectual  opposition  to  the  union  of  Orangeism 
and  of  Evangelism,  which  the  wily  veteran  of  Ascendency,  and 
the  frantic  champion  of  the  New  Reformation,  had  effected. 

To  this  combination  of  power  Mr.  Dawson  had  neither 
wealth  nor  connections  to  oppose.  He  had  even  intimated 
that  he  would  not  bear  any  portion  of  the  expenses,  and 
must  be  returned  by  popular  contribution.  The  ordinary 
preparations  had  not  been  made,  and  it  was  only  three  days 
before  the  election  commenced  that  his  intention  was  de- 
clared. Leslie  Foster  affected  to  treat  his  pretensions  with 
derision.  He  was  to  be  seen  among  groups  of  sympathizing 
king's  counsel,  and  assentating  assistant-barristers,  with  his 
forefinger  and  thumb  brought  into  syllogistic  conjunction, 
demonstrating  the  utter  absurdity  of  Alexander  Dawson  in 
attempting  a  contest.  A  profound  seriousness  habitually  per- 
vades the  countenance  of  Mr.  Foster,  who,  accustomed  to  the 
most  abstruse  meditations  upon  political  economy,  and  con- 
versant with  the  deepest  mysteries  of  legislation,  has  seldom 

*  The  Earl  of  Roden  (who  sits  in  the  House  of  Lords  as  Baron  Clanbrassill, 
in  the  peerage  of  the  United  Kingdom),  is  now,  in  1854,  in  his  sixty-sixth  year. 
He  was  long  notorious  for  his  connection  with  the  Orange  faction,  and  has 
taken  great  interest  in  all  attempts  at  changing  Irish  Catholics  (when  food  is 
soarce)  into  nominal  converts.  When  the  potato  crop  tui-ns  out  favorably,  the 
"reformed"  lapse  into  their  ancient  faith.  It  was  believed  that  Lord  Roden's 
gi'eat  test  of  a  "  renewed  spirit"  was  the  partaking  of  meat,  on  a  Friday  —  hence 
they  were  called  "  leg-of-mutton  converts."  However  misplaced  his  political 
and  polemical  zeal,  Lord  Roden  is  a  good  landlord.  He  has  a  pension  of 
twenty-seven  hundred  pounds  sterling,  for  the  abolished  office  of  Auditor-Genei*- 
al  in  L'eland. —  His  eldest  son.  Viscount  Jocelyn,  born  in  1816,  was  military  sec- 
retary to  the  Chinese  Expedition,  and  is  author  of  "  Six  Months  in  China." 
He  afterward  held  office  under  Sir  Robert  Peel  (from  Februar}',  1845,  to  July, 
1846),  as  one  of  the  Secretaries  of  the  India  Board.  He  is  a  moderate  consei"- 
vative,  and  a  well-infoiTned,  iinpresuming  man.  His  wife,  one  of  the  hand- 
somest women  in  the  Court  of  Victoria  (she  is  daughter  of  Lady  Palmerston, 
by  her  first  mam'age)  is  a  Lady  of  the  Bedchamber  to  the  Queen. — Viscount 
Jocelyn  has  a  seat  in  the  House  of  Commons,  as  member  for  Lynn  Regis,  in 
the  county  of  Norfolk,  for  which  borough  he  was  first  elected  in  1842. —  M. 


238  JOHN    LESLIE    FOSTER. 

been  known  to  use  the  risible  organs  for  tlie  purposes  for 
which  they  were  originally  intended.  The  notion  of  a  contest 
in  Louth,  however,  seemed  to  strike  him  as  so  exceedingly 
ludicrous  and  extravagant,  that  upon  this  occasion  he  broke 
through  all  the  rules  of  solemnity  by  which  his  physiognomy 
is  usually  controlled.  Still,  he  had  left  off  laughing  for  such 
a  length  of  time,  that  his  smile  sat  uneasily  and  unnaturally 
upon  him,  and  the  muscles  of  merriment  had  become  so  rusty 
and  so  destitute  of  pliability,  that  they  accommodated  them- 
selves slowly  and.  ponderously  to  their  functions ;  and  many 
of  his  friends,  observing  these  novel  phenomena  of  mirth,  ex 
claimed,  '*  What  can  be  the  matter  with  Leslie  Foster !"  He, 
however,  made  ample  compensation  for  this  sudden  and  un- 
meet deviation  from  his  habitual  gravity,  by  the  seriousness 
of  his  aspect,  upon  his  appearance  at  the  hustings  of  Dundalk. 
I  proceeded  there  before  the  arrival  of  Mr.  Foster. 

From  the  brow  of  a  hill  which  surmounts  the  town,  when 
I  was  at  a  short  distance  from  it,  I  saw  a  vast  multitude 
descending  with  banners  of  green  unfurled  to  the  wind,  and 
shouting  as  they  moved  along.  I  could  not  at  first  discern 
with  distinctness  the  gentleman  who  was  the  immediate  object 
of  this  wild  ovation ;"  but,  on  approaching  and  mixing  with  the 
dense  mass  of  enthusiastic  patriots  myself,  I  saw,  seated  in  an 
old  gig,  Mr.  Alexander  Dawson,  the  aspiring  candidate  who 
had  presumed  to  enter  the  lists  with  the  hereditary  representa- 
tives of  the  County  of  Louth.  He  Avore  an  old  frock-coat  cov 
ered  with  dust,  and  a  broad-brimmed,  weather-beaten  hat, 
which  surmounted  a  head  that  streamed  with  profuse  perspira- 
tion ;  his  face  was  ruddy  with  heat,  but,  notwithstanding  the 
excitement  of  the  scene,  preserved  its  habitual  character  of 
sagacious  quietism  and  tranquil  intelligence.  He  did  not  seem 
to  be  (though  placed  in  a  most  extraordinary  and  trying  situa- 
tion) at  all  conscious  of  the  boldness  of  the  enterprise  in  which 
he  was  embarked,  and  was  perhaps  the  least  moved  of  the 
multitude  that  were  rushing  rapidly  on ;  while  the  people 
were  hurraing  about  him,  throwing  their  hats  into  the  air,  and 
catching  them  with  a  wild  shriek  and  prance  (a  common  de- 
notement of  joy  among  the  lower  Irish),  he  sat  composedly  in 


I.OUTH   ELECTION.  239 

his  old  vehicle,  and  was  busy  in  preserving  order  and  regu- 
larity in  the  procession.  There  were  some  three  or  four  rag- 
ged fiddlers  before  him,  who  played  with  all  their  might,  and 
in  notes  of  the  harshest  discord,  a  tune  which  they  intended  for 
the  popular  air  of  *'  Nancy  Dawson,"  and  which  they  selected 
for  no  other  reason  than  that  it  was  connected  with  his  name. 
It  was  only  at  intervals  that  the  hard  and  vigorous  scraping 
of  these  village  violins  was  distinctly  audible ;  for  the  cries 
of  "Down  with  Foster!"  and  "Dawson  for  ever!"  resounded 
from  every  side  in  yells  of  vehement  uproar,  and  monopolized 
the  hearing  faculties.  A  wonderful  enthusiasm  prevailed 
through  this  vast  gathering;  and  in  the  faces  of  the  fierce  and 
athletic  peasants  who  drew  their  favorite  on,  as  they  occasion- 
ally turned  their  heads  back  to  look  on  him,  and  shouted  in 
the  retrospect,  the  strongest  passions  of  mingled  joy,  ferocity, 
and  determination,  were  expressed. 

In  a  few  minutes  Mr.  Dawson  and  his  gig  were  drawn  into 
the  main  street  of  Dundalk,  and  stopped  at  Magrath's  hotel, 
which  was  the  rendezvous  of  patriotism  during  the  election. 
There  the  committee,  which  had  been  hastily  gotten  up,  was 
collected,  and  welcomed  Mr.  Dawson  on  his  arrival.  He  de- 
scended amid  loud  acclamations,  and  soon  after  appeared  at  a 
window  in  the  tavern,  whence  he  addressed  the  people.  Sev- 
eral thousands  were  assembled,  and  in  an  instant  deep  silence 
was  obtained.  In  a  plain,  brief,  perfectly  simple,  and  intelli- 
gible speech,  Mr.  Dawson  told  them  that  for  their  sake,  and 
not  to  gratify  his  personal  ambition,  he  was  determined  to 
oppose  Mr.  Foster  and  Mr.  Fortescue,  and  to  break  the  Oriel 
and  the  Roden  yoke.  His  speech  was  received  with  the  most 
rapturous  plaudits,  and  it  was  manifest  that,  whatever  might 
be  the  issue,  a  spirit  had  arisen  among  the  people  Avliich  por- 
tended far  more  than  could  have  been  originally  calculated. 
While  Mr.  Dawson  and  others  of  the  same  party  ivere  addres- 
sing the  people,  the  carriages  of  the  leading  gentry,  drawn 
by  four  horses,  were  seen  entering  the  town,  but,  in  order  to 
avoid  the  multitude,  wheeled  round  through  a  street  parallel 
to  that  in  the  opening  of  which  the  people  were  gathered. 
Astonishment  and   apprehension  were  visible  in  their  faces. 


24:0  JOHN    LESLIE    FOSTER. 

They  perceived  already  that  a  dreadful  struggle  was  about  to 
take  place. 

The  wonted  harangues  having  been  delivered  to  the  people, 
Mr.  Dawson  and  his  committee  proceeded  to  the  Court-house, 
which  occupies  one  side  of  a  sc[uare  in  the  centre  of  the  town. 
This  building  presents  in  its  exterior  a  very  beautiful  object. 
It  was  erected  under  the  immediate  superintendence  of  Mr. 
Foster,  who  furnished  the  design,  which  he  took  from  the 
Temple  of  Theseus ;  for  Mr.  Foster  values  himself  upon  a  uni- 
versality of  acquisition,  and  is  a  sort  of  walking  encyclopedia, 
or  peripatetic  repertory  of  all  the  arts  and  sciences,  and  is  as 
profoundly  skilled  in  architecture  as  he  is  in  any  of  the  crafts 
of  the  Custom-House  or  the  mysteries  of  the  Excise.  Opening 
Stuart's  Athens,  he  lighted  on  the  Temple  of  Theseus,  and 
selected  it  as  a  model  for  a  Court-house  at  Dundalk ;  and, 
accordingly,  the  most  beautiful  and  inconvenient  temple  in 
which  the  rites  of  justice  have  ever  been  performed  has  been 
produced  under  his  architectural  auspices. 

In  that  part  of  this  incongruous  edifice  which  is  allocated  to 
the  County  business,  the  High-Sheriff  assembled  the  free- 
holders to  read  the  writ.  On  his  left  hand  stood  Mr.  Leslie 
Foster.  How  changed  from  him  who  had,  a  few  hours  before, 
derided  as  impotent  the  efforts  of  the  Roman  Catholic  body  to 
push  him  from  his  stool  in  the  legislature  !  His  complexion  is 
naturally  pale,  but  it  now  became  deadly-white.  He  surveyed 
the  dense  mass  of  the  people  with  awe,  and  seemed  to  recoil 
from  the  groans  and  hootings  with  which  he  was  clamorously 
assailed.  When  proposed  as  a  candidate,  he  delivered  a 
speech,  in  which  he  clumsily  sought  to  reconcile  his  auditors 
to  his  resistance  of  their  claims,  and  appeared  to  be  aware  of 
the  wretchedness  of  the  task  which  he  had  imposed  upon  him- 
self." The  only  relief  which  he  received  was  derived  from  the 
execration  which  the  mention  of  Lord  Roden  and  his  party 
produced  in  the  assembly ;  for,  obnoxious  as  that  nobleman  is 
through  the  rest  of  Ireland,  his  fanaticism  and  narrow-hearted- 
ness  have  secured  for  him  a  more  condensed  and  concentrated 
odium  in  the  town  of  Dundalk.  Mr.  Dawson  spoke  with  equal 
brevity  and  perspicuity,  and  made  it  his  boast  that  he  be- 


LOUTH   ELECTION.  241 

longed  to  the  middle  classes,  and  was  best  calculated  to  repre- 
sent their  feelings  and  to  do  justice  to  their  interests. 

On  the  succeeding  day  the  polling  commenced  with  activity, 
Mr.  Fortescue  being  sustained  by  the  Koden  influence  and  a 
large  portion  of  the  Protestant  aristocracy;  the  rest  of  that 
body  were  the  supporters  of  Mr.  Foster;  while  Mr.  Dawson 
relied  upon  a  few  Roman  Catholics  of  fortune,  and  on  the  spirit 
^of  agrarian  insurrection,  which  had  broken  out  among  the 
forty-shilling  freeholders.  For  the  first  few  days,  Mr.  Foster 
and  Mr.  Fortescue  acted  in  conjunction,  because  they  calcu- 
lated that  they  should  be  able  to  throw  Mr.  Dawson  out;  but, 
after  some  demonstration  of  the  power  of  the  people,  the  agent 
for  Mr.  Fortescue  (Mr.  Johnson)  broke  off  the  coalition,  and 
the  three  candidates  rested  upon  their  individual  resources. 

In  this  state  of  things,  Mr.  Shell,  who  was  counsel  for  Mr. 
Dawson,  applied  to  Mr.  Johnson,  as  agent  for  Mr.  Fortescue, 
and  offered  to  give  him  a  certain  number  of  votes,  upon  con- 
dition that  Mr.  Fortescue  should  co-operate  with  the  popular 
party  in-  throwing  Mr.  Foster  out ;  but  Mr.  Johnson,  confident 
at  the  time  that  Lord  Roden's  interest  was  paramount,  declined 
to  accede  to  a  proposition  which  it  is  probable  his  employer 
would  have  regarded  as  unworthy  of  him.  Mr.  Fortescue  was, 
however,  outwitted  by  Leslie  Foster ;  for  the  coalition  of  the 
first  days  threw  so  many  additional  votes  into  the  scale,  as 
enabled  him,  ultimately,  though  only  by  a  very  small  major- 
ity, to  defeat  his  incautious  and  unskilful  auxiliary. 

Some  time  elapsed  before  any  decided  demonstrations  of 
superiority  took  place ;  and  the  exertions  of  all  parties  were 
prodigious.  Emissaries  were  despatched  night  and  day 
through  every  part  of  the  county,  and  no  means  of  persuasion 
were  spared  by  the  Oatholio,  or  of  terror  by  the  Protestant 
faction,  to  bring  the  freeholders  in.  Priests  and  attorneys 
were  seen  scouring  the  country  in  all  directions,  and  landlords 
and  drivers,  armed  with  warrants  of  distress,  knocked  at  the 
door  of  every  hovel.  The  spirit  of  exertion  which  animated 
the  contending  parties  extended  itself  to  the  counsel,  and  Mr. 
North  (the  brother-in-law  of  Mr.  Foster),  Mr.  Murray,  who 
was  employed  by  Mr.  Fortescue,  and  Mr.  Shell,  who  acted  for 

Vol.  IL— 11 


24:2  JOHN    LESLIE    FOSTER. 

Mr.  Dawson,  in  tlie  Higli  Sheriff's  booth,  exhibited  a  zeal  and 
alacrity  which  a  mere  professional  sympathy  with  their  clients 
could  scarcely  have  supplied. 

The  Sheriff's  booth  was  in  a  small  room  adjoining  the  Coun- 
ty-court, and  offered,  through  the  iron  bars  of  its  single  win- 
dow on  the  ground-floor,  a  dismal  spectacle.  A  wall,  at  the 
distance  of  about  four  feet  from  this  window,  rises  to  a  consid- 
erable height,  and  forms  a  small  quadrangular  space,  covered 
with  rank  grass  and  broken  stones,  in  which  the  murderers  at 
Wildgoose  Lodge  are  burled.  In  intervals  of  leisure,  the  eyes 
of  the  persons,  whose  business  it  was  to  remain  in  this  room, 
would  involuntarily  rest  upon  this  spot,  and  the  conversation 
turned  from  the  subject  of  the  election  to  the  terrible  atrocity 
of  which  that  dreary  piece  of  ground  was  the  memorial.  The 
meditations  which  it  supplied  were,  however,  of  brief  duration, 
for  a  question  connected  with  a  vote  would  arise  to  dissolve 
them. 

As  the  election  proceeded,  the  anxieties  of  Mr.  Foster  aug- 
mented. He  seemed  to  lose  all  command  and  self-possession. 
He  would  rush  into  the  Sheriff's  booth  with  a  precipitate 
vehemence,  which  Avas  the  more  remarkable  from  the  contrast 
which  it  formed  with  liis  usual  systematic  and  well-ordered  be- 
havior. "  Soldiers  !"  he  would  cry,  "  soldiers,  Mr.  High-Sher- 
iff! I  call  upon  you  to  bring  out  troops,  to  protect  me  and 
my  supporters.  My  life  is  in  peril  —  my  brother  has  just  been 
assailed  —  we  shall  be  massacred,  if  you  persevere  in  exclu- 
ding troops  from  the  town  !"  Such  were  the  exclamations  he 
would  utter,  under  the  influence  of  mingled  anger  and  alarm  ; 
for  I  believe  that  his  fears,  though  utterly  unfounded,  were 
sincere.  To  these  appeals  the  friends  of  Mr.  Dawson  would 
oppose  equally  vehement  adjurations.  "  What !  call  out  troops ! 
bayonet  the  people  !  No,  Mr.  Foster;  the  scenes  of  1798  are 
not  returned  ;  the  Sheriff  Avill  not  be  deluded  by  the  phantoms 
which  issue  from  your  over-excited  imagination,  or  accede  to 
your  sanguinary  invocations." 

The  High-Sheriff  was  placed  in  a  very  embarrassing  condi- 
tion in  the  midst  of  this  uproar  of  remonstrance.  It  was  said 
that  his  leanings  were  personally  favorable  to  Mr.  Foster ;  but 


LOUTH    ELECTION.  24:3 

he  is  a  brewer  of  the  famous  OastlebelUngham  ale,  and  the  in- 
terests of  his  brewery  being  at  variance  with  liis  political  pre- 
dilections (if  he  have  any),  he  was  kept  in  a  state  of  painful 
hesitation,  until  Mr.  Ohaigneau,  who  acted  with  the  utmost 
impartiality  as  Assessor,  resolved  his  difficulties,  by  very  prop- 
erly stating,  that  when  evidence  of  danger  should  be  laid  be- 
fore the  Sheriff  upon  oath,  he  would  act  upon  it.  The  town 
remained  perfectly  peaceable.  There  were,  indeed,  loud  cries 
and  vehement  shoutings,  but  no  personal  molestation  was  of- 
fered to  anybody.  A  perpetual  procession  of  fiddlers  and  fife- 
players  moved  through  the  streets,  who  played  no  other  air 
than  "  Nancy  Dawson"  from  morning  until  twelve  at  night. 

At  the  head  of  this  body  of  everlasting  minstrels  were  two 
singular  persons,  who  carried  large  banners  of  green  silk,  with 
national  emblems  and  mottoes  figured  upon  them.  One  of  these 
strange  individuals  was  a  doctor — a  large,  bloated,  plethoric 
mass  of  a  man,  dressed  in  old  rusty  black,  covered  with  snuff, 
with  a  protuberant  belly,  and  a  short,  waddling  gait,  which  a 
quantity  of  matutinal  potations  had  rendered  exceedingly  un- 
steady ;  while  his  countenance,  composed  of  large  blotches 
of  orbicular  red,  with  a  pair  of  large  glazed  eyes,  surmounted 
by  white  shaggy  eyebrows,  confirmed  the  conjectures  which 
the  irregularity  of  his  movements  suggested.  The  doctor  car- 
ried the  Dawson  standard,  having  two  or  three  stout  fellows 
to  co-operate  in  his  sustainment.  When  he  arrived  at  the 
end  of  the  street,  in  turning  round  to  direct  the  procession,  of 
which  he  was  the  chief  leader,  the  doctor  would  utter  a  loud 
but  inarticulate  shout,  and  return  toward  the  courthouse ;  and 
when  he  had  arrived  there,  he  would  again  wheel  about  at 
the  head  of  the  multitude  with  a  similar  hurrah.  Thus,  he 
traversed,  from  morning  till  sunset,  the  principal  street  of  the 
town,  taking  a  glass  of  Irish  restorative  at  brief  intervals  in 
these  strange  perambulations. 

Next  in  command  to  the  doctor  was  old  Harry  Mills,  whose 
fame  has  since  travelled  across  the  Atlantic,  and  who  has  not 
only  had  his  health  drunk  in  America,  but  has  received  a  sub- 
scription of  twenty  pounds  from  the  New  World.  This  peas- 
ant was  among  the  most  conspicuous  figures  at  the  Louth  elec- 


244  JOHN    LESLIE    FOSTER. 

tion.  He  had  about  four  acres  of  land,  for  which  he  paid  a 
high  rent  to  his  landlord ;  and  although  he  completely  depend- 
ed on  him,  this  "  village  Hampden,"  as  he  was  called,  with- 
stood the  petty  despotism  of  Mr.  Woulfe  M'Neil,  and  voted  in 
despite  of  him  for  Mr.  Dawson.  Harry  Mills  had  gone  through 
many  a  wild  adventure.  He  had  been  concerned  in  the  affair 
of  1798,  and  was  obliged  to  fly  the  country  ;  but,  as  he  said 
himself,  he  had  the  consolation  of  seeing  an  Orangeman's 
house  on  fire  upon  the  shore,  as  he  was  sailing  in  a  fishing- 
boat  from  the  port  of  Dundalk.  "  Please  your  honor,"  Harry 
used  to  say,  "  as  I  was  leaving  ould  Ireland,  I  saw  the  flames 
blazing  out  of  the  Oromwellian's  house ;  and  many  a  time, 
when  I  was  keeping  watch  on  the  coast  of  Guinea,  I  used  to 
think  of  that  same  fire."  Harry  was  obliged  to  turn  seaman, 
and  became  a  sailor  in  a  slave-ship.  He  was  taken  by  a 
French  privateer ;  and  I  do  not  recollect  exactly  how  he  con- 
trived, after  years  had  passed,  to  get  back  to  Ireland.  His 
spirit  slumbered  within  him  until  the  Louth  election,  and  then 
it  broke  forth,  like  the  flame  from  the  Orangeman's  house, 
which  had  ministered  with  its  flashes  to  his  retrospective  con- 
solations. With  that  ocean-look  and  attitude  which  belong  to 
all  seafaring  people,  Harry  blended  the  sly  cunning  and  observ- 
ant sagacity  which  characterize  the  Irish  peasant,  and  offered, 
to  a  lover  of  the  moral  picturesque,  one  of  the  most  striking 
objects  at  the  Louth  election.  He  marched,  in  company  with 
the  doctor,  as  second  standard-bearer  to  Mr.  Dawson,  and  was 
as  unwearied  as  his  brother  patriot  in  this  his  new,  and,  if  we 
could  judge  from  his  shouts  and  exclamations,  his  delightful 
vocation. 

But  in  drawing  the  figures  and  detailing  the  incidents  by 
which  Mr.  Foster  was  surrounded,  I  allow  him,  perhaps,  to 
leave  the  foreground  of  the  picture.  As  the  election  advanced, 
hiff  fears  augmented,  and  he  presented  new  phenomena  of  ter- 
ror. His  opponents  felt  a  malevolent  pleasure  in  watching  the 
torture  which  he  was  undergoing,  and  in  observing  the  writhiugs 
of  the  mind,  which  were  apparent  in  his  demeanor  and  coun- 
tenance. But  Alexander  Dawson  had  in  a  few  days  ceased 
to  be  the  immediate  object  of  his  competition ;  for  the  latter 


LOUTH   ELECTION.  245 

having  obtained  a  vast  majority,  his  return  was  no  longer  mat- 
ter of  speculation,  and  the  fiercest  contest  was  carried  on  be- 
tween the  Roden  and  the  Oriel  candidates,  who  had  originally 
entered  in  alliance  into  the  field.  Though  they  agreed  in  all 
political  opinions,  they  afforded  proof  of  the  promptitude  with 
which  abstract  questions  are  lost  in  individual  interests.  The 
Catholics  had  carried  Mr.  Dawson's  election,  and  Mr.  Foster 
and  his  friends  used  all  their  efforts  to  induce  them  to  remain 
neutral;  observing  that  Mr.  Foster  (which  was  a  just  remark) 
was  not  personally  obnoxious,  that  he  was  a  good  landlord,  and 
that  Lord  E-oden's  candidate  was  not  only  politically  but  fa- 
natically opposed  to  them. 

These  arguments  had  their  weight  with  the  liberal  party  ; 
although  the  more  sagacious  saw  that  it  would  be  a  consum- 
mation of  their  victory,  if  they  could  eject  from  the  House  of 
Commons  an  individual  who  had  contributed  some  talent  and 
a  great  deal  of  research  and  industry  to  the  maintenance  of  his 
party.  Still,  the  antipathy  to  Lord  Roden  prevailed  :  and  the 
detestation  in  which  his  wild,  lugubrious  doctrines  were  held ; 
the  recollection  of  his  having  refused  a  small  piece  of  ground 
to  erect  a  more  commodious  house  of  Catholic  worship ;  his 
penurious  piety ;  his  omission,  with  all  his  ostentatious  Chris- 
tianity, to  subscribe  to  a  single  charitable  institution  at  Dun- 
dalk;  and  other  circumstances  of  a  similar  character — made 
the  majority  of  the  people  rather  inclined  toward  Leslie  Foster 
than  to  the  candidate  by  which  the  E-oden  interest  was  rep- 
resented. Mr.  Fortescue  had  now  abundant  reason  to  regret 
the  fastidious  spirit  with  which  a  tender  of  Catholic  support 
had  been  originally  rejected. 

Almost  all  the  county  had  been  polled  out,  and  then,  but 
when  it  was  too  late,  it  was  communicated  to  the  Catholics, 
but  not  through  the  ostensible  agent  of  Mr.  Fortescue,  that 
their  assistance  was  necessary  to  throw  Mr.  Foster  out.  Had 
this  application  been  made  the  day  before,  the  Catholics,  who 
were  three  hundred  ahead  of  the  Protestant  candidates,  might 
have  interfered  with  effect.  Their  committee  refused  to  act ; 
but  individuals  took  upon  themselves  to  gather  as  many  strag- 
gling freeholders  as  could  be  collected.     It  is  a  rule  that,  after 


246  JOHN    LESLIE  FOSTER. 

a  certain  number  of  days,  if  twenty  persons  do  not  poll  before 
six  o'clock,  the  booth  Avhere  this  deficiency  takes  place  shall 
close.  Every  booth,  excepting  one,  was  shut  about  four  o'clock  ; 
and  if  the  Roden  party  could  contrive  to  poll  twenty  before 
six,  they  would  have  been  entitled  to  hold  the  booth  open. 
They  calculated  that  on  the  next  day  they  could  bring  in 
enough  of  voters  to  obtain  a  majority,  with  the  aid  of  such  of 
the  Catholics  as  did  not  hate  Lord  Roden  less,  but  dreaded 
Leslie  Foster  more,  and  on  that  principle  were  doing  their  ut- 
most to  throw  him  out  of  Parliament.  About  four  o'clock, 
Leslie  Foster  had  a  majority  of  nine  or  ten,  and  I  believe  all 
his  votes  were  exhausted.  Some  twelve  or  thirteen  persons 
had  polled  in  the  booth  in  question  ;  and  if  Mr.  Fortescue  could 
procure  so  many  persons  merely  to  poll,  as  would,  with  the 
votes  already  given,  make  up  twenty,  his  object  would  have 
been  secured.  The  issue  of  the  contest,  therefore,  depended 
upon  minutes. 

The  booth  presented  a  most  singular  scene.  It  was  crowded 
to  excess,  from  the  condensation  of  the  public  interests  within 
its  narrow  limits.  Scarcely  space  enough  was  left  for  the  ad- 
mission of  the  voters;  and,  indeed,  it  was  the  object  of  the 
Foster  faction  to  retard  and  obstruct  their  arrival  by  every 
possible  expedient.  In  order  to  consume  time,  fellows  were 
put  up  on  Mr.  Foster's  tallies  who  had  no  votes ;  and  their  re- 
jection, and  the  clamor  and  confusion  Avhich  it  produced,  served 
to  consume  the  hour,  of  which  every  instant  was  of  value.  Mr. 
Fortescue's  party  still  contrived  to  poll  a  few  freeholders,  who 
were  supplied  by  the  Catholics ;  and  it  was  matter  of  great 
doubt  whether  the  important  and  decisive  number  "  twenty" 
could  be  produced.  After  five  o'clock,  the  suspense  of  all  par- 
ties became  increased,  and  every  eye  was  alternately  turned 
to  the  spot  where  the  freeholders  were  polled,  and  to  the 
watches  which  were  held  in  the  hands  of  the  spectators,  and 
which  indicated  the  progress  of  time  to  that  point  on  which  the 
issue  was  to  hang.  I  never  saw  a  deeper  expression  of  solici- 
tude. Mr.  Fortescue  himself  was  not  there,  as  he  was  confined 
by  the  gout ;  but  his  partisans  showed  an  anxiety  as  great  as 
if  personally  engaged  by  individual  interest  in  the  event. 


LOUTH    ELECTION.  247 

The  friends  of  Mr.  Foster,  who  were  gathered  round  the 
Sheriff,  manifested,  if  possible,  a  still  greater  intentness  of  ex- 
pectation.    George  Pentland,  who  had  been  long  solicitor  to 
the  customhouse,   of  which  Mr.  Foster  was,  since   1818,  the 
counsel,  acted  as  his  agent,  with  an  alacrity  which  inveterate 
habits  of  professional  sympathy  had  naturally  produced.    Many 
reciprocal  obligations  had  endeared  the  counsel  and  the  attor- 
ney to  each  other;  and  it  would  be  difficult,  perhaps,  to  adjust 
the  balance  of  gratitude,  and  to  determine  on  which  side  the 
golden  scale  ought  to  incline.     Certain  it  is  that  Mr.  Pentland 
exhibited  upon  this  occasion,  for  a  gentleman  who  was  alter- 
nately his  patron  and  his  protege,  the  most  ardent  sympathy. 
During  the  earlier  period  of  the  election,  George  had  preserved 
that  spirit  of  coaxing  good-humor,  and   of  humbug  urbanityi, 
which  belongs  to  the  good  old  school  of  Irish  pensioners  and 
placemen.     "  Oh,  my  good  friend,"  George  used  to  say  (laying 
his  customhouse  gripe  upon  your  shoulder,  and  refusing  you  a 
permit  to  pass),  "you  little  know  Leslie  Foster.     Mind  what  I 
say,  and  I  have  an  eye  in  my  head,  Leslie  will  be  found  voting 
for  you  yet  —  mind"  —  (and  then  he  would  let  loose  your  shoul- 
der, while  he  placed  his  forefinger  on  the  tip  of  his  nose,  and 
winked  sagaciously  at  you)  —  "mind  what  I  say  —  but  I  say 
nothing — mum's  the  word  !"     But  George  laid  aside  all  his 
intimations,  whether  verbal,  physiognomical,  ocular,  or  nasal, 
as  the  fatal  hour  of  six  drew  on  ;   and  with  eyes  glaring  with 
expectation,  and  his  broAvs  raised  in  Saxon  arches  on  his  fore- 
head, he  sat  waiting  the  eventful  instant.     Near  him  stood  Mr. 
North,  whose  naturally  SAveet  and  placid  countenance,  without 
exhibiting  the  fierceness  of  faction,  assumed  for  a  moment  au 
aspect  of  acerbity,  while  his  lips,  that  were  as  white  as  ashes, 
trembled  and  quivered  in  the  expression  of  the  few  words  to 
which  he  occasionally  gave  utterance. 

But  where  was  Leslie  Foster  all  this  time  %  This  question, 
which  the  reader  will  probably  ask,  I  put  to  myself;  and,  on 
turning  my  eyes  round,  I  was  at  first  at  a  loss  to  discover  him. 
At  length  I  observed  a  person  sitting  in  a  remote  corner  of  the 
room,  upon  a  chair  which  was  thrown  back  in  such  a  way  that 
it  was  balanced  on  two  legs,  while  the  head  of  the  somewhat 


248  JOHN    LESLIE   FOSTER. 

round  and  squat  gentleman  by  whom  it  was  occupied  leaned 
against  the  wall.  His  hat  was  drawn  over  his  brows,  and  his 
eyes  were  closed.  His  cheeks,  which  seemed  to  have  been 
originally  full  and  plentiful,  appeared  to  have  suftered  a  cadav- 
erous collapse.  Thick  drops  of  perspiration  trickled  down  his 
visage,  which  he  occasionally  wiped  away  with  an  Orange 
handkerchief  held  in  his  right  hand  ;  while  a  watch,  on  which, 
however,  he  did  not  look,  was  in  the  other.  I  did  not  at  first 
recognise  this  extraordinary  figure;  but  upon  a  sudden  it 
started  up,  and  on  the  opening  of  the  eyes,  and  the  full  dis- 
closure of  the  countenance,  I  thought  I  could  perceive  some 
faint  resemblance  to  Leslie  Foster.  He  seemed,  at  first,  to 
stand  in  an  attitude  of  cataleptic  horror ;  and  when  he  recov- 
ered himself,  he  clasped  his  hands,  and,  unable  to  sustain  his 
agony,  rushed  with  a  frantic  speed  out  of  the  room.  He  had 
given  everything  up  for  lost ;  but  he  was  mistaken.  The 
twenty  votes  had  not  been  made  up.  The  clock  struck  six, 
and  John  Leslie  Foster  was  saved  from  being  buried  by  torch- 
light [as  a  suicide],  under  the  new  act  of  Parliament,  in  the 
churchyard  of  Dundalk. 

Mr.  Dawson  and  Mr.  Foster  were  returned  as  duly  elected. 
The  latter  did  not  attend  at  the  hustings  when  the  event  of 
the  election  was  proclaimed.  He  set  off  for  Cullen,  the  seat 
of  Lord  Oriel,  in  that  heaving  and  agitation  of  mind  which  the 
stormy  passions  leave  behind,  after  the  immediate  occasion  of 
their  excitement  has  ceased  to  act.  His  flight  Avas  considered 
as  most  inglorious,  and  it  was  boasted  by  the  Catholic  orators 
that  he  did  not  dare  to  meet  them.  This  was  a  great  disap- 
pointment to  Mr.  Sheil  and  other  dealers  in  harangue,  who  ex- 
pected to  show  off  at  his  expense.  He  very  wisely  effected  his 
retreat  to  his  uncle's  (the  late  Lord  Oriel's)  residence,  whose 
octogenarian  philosophy  did  not  prevent  him  from  feeling  a 
deep  and  corroding  interest  in  the  event.  Had  Mr.  Foster 
remained  sequestered  in  the  beautiful  woods  which  the  Speaker 
of  the  Irish  House  of  Commons  lived  to  see  rise  about  him, 
he  would  have  acted  wisely.*     But,  after  a  short  interval,  the 

*  When  the  Union  was  passed,  John  Foster  was  Speaker  of  the  House  of 
Commons.     He  was  Mr.  Leslie  Foster's  uncle,  and  was  raised  to  the  peerage^ 


COST   OF   CREATING    A   PEER.  249 

public  were  astonished  by  a  resentful  lucubration  from  his  pen, 
in  which  he  vilified  the  proceedings  of  the  Catholics,  and  in- 
veighed with  great  virulence  against  the  priests.  If  ever  ho 
stands  for  the  county  of  Louth  again,  which  is  very  improbable, 
this  document  will  be  brought  in  judgment  against  him. 

He  was  guilty  of  another  indiscretion,  or  rather  a  piece  of 
bad  taste,  as  it  was  far  more  deserving  of  laughter  than  of 
condemnation.  Having  fled  from  Dundalk,  where  Mr.  Daw- 
son was  chaired,  he  caused  himself  to  be  put  through  a  similar 

by  the  title  of  Lord  Oriel. — I  have  so  repeatedly  had  occasion  to  i-efer  to  the 
creation  of  peers,  that  it  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  say  something  about  the  cost 
("  surget  amarl  aliquid"),  which  is  considerable  and  is  defrayed  by  the  person 
who  receives  the  elevation,  except  when  the  dignity  is  conferred  for  public 
services,  when  the  amount  is  paid  out  of  the    sum  granted  by  Parliament  for 
Civil  Contingencies.     In  1853,  on  the  motion  of  Mr.  Hume,  who  always  de- 
sires to  know  how  the  public  money  is  expended,  a  Parliamentary  return  was 
printed,  of  the  persons  to  whom,  and  for  what  sei-vices,  the  sum  of  four  hun- 
dred and  twenty  pounds  sterling,  charged  in  the  Civil  Contingencies  for  1852, 
was  paid,  and  the  names  of  the  several  persons  receiving  the  same  for  the  pat- 
ent creating  General  Lord  Fitzroy  Somerset  a  baron  of  the  United  Kingdom. 
He  had  been  Military  Secretary,  for  a  long  period,  to  the  Duke  of  Wellington 
when  Commander-in-chief,  and,  on  the  Duke's  death,  in  September,  1852,  was 
appointed  Master-General  of  the  Ordnance,  and  called  to  the  Upper  House  as 
Baron  Raglan.     It  appears,  by  the  official  retum,  that,  in  the  expenses  of  his 
patent  of  nobility,  the  crown-office  charges  amounted  to  £390,  15s.  4:d. ;  and 
the  authority  for  the  same  is  stated  "  ancient  usages."     Of  that  sum,  £150,  2s. 
went  to  the  Stamp-office;  £104,  6s.  lOd.  to  the  royal  household.     Some. of  the 
items  are  curious.     The  payment  to  the  Lord  Chancellor,  Great  Seal  fee,  is  £2, 
6s.  8d. ;  the  clerk  of  the  Hanaper,  has  £24,  13s.  id. ;  the  deputy,  £1,  Is. ;  tlie 
Lord-Chancellor's  purse-bearer,  has   £5,  5s. ;    the   porter  to  the  Great  Seal, 
£1,  Is.:  gentlemen  to  ditto,  £6;  sealer,  £l,  2s.  6d.;  deputy  ditto,  10s.  6d. 
Chaffwax,   £1,  2s.  2^. ;  deputy  ditto,   10s.  6d. ',  principal   Usher  of  Scotland, 
£6,  13s.  6d.]  Scotch  heralds,  £16;    English  ditto,  £36  ;    Earl-Marshal,  £5  ; 
Garter-King-at-Arms,  £20;  and  the  gold-emblazoned  skin  and  boxes  to  hold 
the  patent  and  seal,  cost  £9.     The  Patent-office  charges  amounted  to  £29, 
18s.  6d.     By  the  Attorney-General,  £20,  for  approving,  settling,  and  signing 
the  Queen's  warrant  for  Her  Majesty's  signature,  according  to  "  ancient  usage." 
By  the  clerk  of  the  Patents,  to  the  Attorney-General,  £7,  7s.  6d.,  by  ancient 
usaere,  and  £1,  10s.  stamp  duty  on  wan-ant.     By  the  engrossing  clerk,  £l, 
1*.,  for    engrossing  the  wan-ant  and   for   parchment.     In  this    manner   £  120 
was  expended  in  the  creation  of  a  baron  of  the  United  Kingdom.     The  higher 
the  rank  confen-ed,  the  heavier  the  charges.     It  is  understood  that  the  cost  of  a 
vDuke's  patent  is  nearly  four  thousand  pounds  sterling. —  M. 

11* 


250  JOHN    LESLIE   FOSTER. 

honor  in  his  uncle's  demesne.  All  the  vassals  and  retainers 
of  Lord  Oriel,  who  could  be  procured,  were  collected  together, 
and  Mr.  Foster  having  been  placed  upon  the  shoulders  of  four 
stout  Protestant  tenants,  was  conveyed  through  the  village  of 
Oullen,  amid  the  plaudits  of  the  yeomanry,  the  hurrahs  of  the 
schoolmaster,  the  sexton,  and  the  parish-clerk,  and  the  accla- 
mations of  the  police. 

I  have  hitherto  considered  Mr.  Foster  as  a  candidate,  and  I 
should  give  an  equally  minute  account  of  him  as  a  member  of 
Parliament,  but  that  I  have  not  had  the  same  fortunate  oppor- 
tunities of  observation.  I  do,  indeed,  remember  an  incident, 
which  may  be  considered,  to  a  certain  extent,  illustrative  of 
his  influence  as  a  legislative  speaker;  and,  in  the  lack  of  any 
other  means  of  describing  him,  it  may  not  be  inappropriate  to 
set  it  down. 

I  was  under  the  gallery  of  the  House  of  Commons  during 
the  debate  on  the  Catholic  question,  in  the  year  1825.  The 
House  was  exceedingly  full.  Mr.  Foster  rose  to  speak,  and 
the  effect  of  his  appearance  on  his  legs  was  truly  wonderful. 
In  an  instant  the  House  was  cleared.  The  rush  to  the  door 
leading  to  the  tavern  up  stairs,  where  the  members  find  a  refuge 
from  the  soporific  powers  of  their  brother-legislators,  was  tre- 
mendous. I  was  myself  swept  away  by  the  torrent,  and  car- 
ried from  my  place  by  the  crowd,  that  fled  from  the  solemn 
adjuration  with  which  Mr.  Foster  commenced  his  oration.  The 
single  phrase  "  Mr.  Speaker"  was  indeed  uttered  with  such  a 
tone  as  indicated  the  extent  of  the  impending  evil ;  and  find- 
ing already  the  influence  of  drowsiness  upon  me,  I  followed 
the  example  which  was  given  by  the  representatives  of  the 
people,  who,  whatever  differences  may  have  existed  among 
them  upon  the  mode  of  settling  Ireland,  appeared  to  coincide 
in  their  estimate  of  Mr.  Foster's  elocution.  From  the  Treasury 
benches,  the  opposition  and  the  neutral  quarters  of  the  House, 
a  simultaneous  concourse  hurried  up  to  Bellamy's,  and  left  Mr. 
Foster  in  full  possession  of  that  solitude  which  he  had  thus 
instantaneously  and  miraculously  produced. 

I  proceeded  up  stairs  with  some  hundreds  of  honorable  gen- 
tlemen.    The  scene  which  Bellamy's  presents  to  a  stranger  is 


NOBILITY   IN    "the   COMMONS.  251 

striking  enough.  Two  smart  girls,  Avliose  briskness  and  neat 
attire  made  up  for  their  want  of  beauty,  and  for  the  invasions 
of  time,  of  which  their  cheeks  showed  the  traces,  helped  out 
tea  in  a  room  in  the  corridor.  It  was  pleasant  to  observe  the 
sons  of  Dukes  and  Marquises,*  and  the  possessors  of  twenties 
and  thirties  of  thousands  a  year,  gathered  round  these  dam- 
sels, and  soliciting  a  cup  of  that  beverage  which  it  was  their 
office  to  administer.  These  Bellamy  bar-maids  seemed  so  fa- 
miliarized with  their  occupation,  that  they  went  through  it  with 

*  The  sons  of  the  nobility  are  eligible  to  sit  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
though  it  is  an  anomaly  for  persons  belonging-  to  the  Aristocracy,  by  feeling 
and  interest,  as  well  as  by  birth,  to  be  nominal  representatives  of  the  People. 
Irish  peers  may  also  be  members  of  the  House  of  Commons  —  but  not  for  an 
Irish  county  or  borough.  Thus  Earl  Annesley  represents  Great  Grimsby,  in 
Lincolnshire,  and  Viscount  Palmerston  is  member  for  Tiverton,  in  Devonshire. 
The  eldest  sons  of  Dukes,  Marquises,  and  Earls,  bear,  by  courtesy,  the  second 
titles  of  their  fathers.  Thus  the  Duke  of  Leinster's  eldest  son  is  called  Mar- 
quis of  Kildare  :  the  Marquis  of  Westminster's  is  Earl  of  Grosvenor :  the  Earl 
of  Lichfield's  is  Viscount  Anson.  In  some  few  cases,  the  holder  of  a  peerage 
has  not  also  received  the  rank  immediately  below  his  own.  Thus,  the  Duke 
of  Manchester's  second  title  is  only  Viscount  Mandeville.  The  issue  of  junior 
children  of  Dukes,  Marquises,  and  Earls,  have  respectively  the  title  of  "  Lord" 
or  "Lady"  prefixed  to  their  name  —  so  we  have  Lord  John  Russell,  Lady 
Blanche  Gower.  The  eldest  son  of  a  Viscoimt  or  a  Baron  is  plainly  "  The 
Honorable" — thus.  Viscount  Strangford's  eldest  son  is  "  The  Honorable  George 
Smythe,"  and  his  brothers  and  sisters  would  be  entitled  to  the  same  prefix, 
which  is  confined  only  to  the  nobility  —  not  even  a  Baronet  being  entitled  to  it. 
A  member  of  Parliament,  spoken  of  in  Parliament  as  "  the  honorable  membei 
for  so-and-so,"  has  no  distinctive  appellation  out  of  it.  Tlierefore  we  have 
plain  Mr.  Cobden ;  but  when  a  man  is  a  Pri\'y  Councillor,  he  has  a  permanent 
title  —  such  as  "The  Right  Honorable  Benjamin  Disraeli."  Every  peer  is 
"  right  honorable."  Courtesy  titles  are  not  recognised  by  law.  Thus,  if  the 
late  Duke  of  Wellington's  eldest  son,  or  the  Duke  of  Bedford's  brother  were  to 
be  named  in  the  London  Gazette,  as  having  obtained  any  appointment,  the 
description  would  be  "  the  honorable  Arthur  Wellesley,  commonly  called  Mar- 
quis of  Douro,"  or  "  the  honorable  John  Russell,  commonly  called  Lord  John 
Russell." — The  House  of  Commons  consists  of  658  members,  and  I  find,  on 
carefully  going  over  the  list,  that  228  of  these  belong  to  the  nobilit}'  by  birth  or 
marriage.  That  is,  more  than  one  third  of  the  representatives  of  the  Commons 
of  the  United  Kingdom  actually  are  members  of  the  Aristocracy,  the  natural  op- 
ponents of  popular  privileges  and  rights.  The  eventual  remedy  will  be,  to 
efiect  a  reform  by  which  peers'  sons  shall  be  disqualified  from  sitting  in  tha 
Commons  House  of  Parliament. —  M. 


252  JOHN    LESLIE   FOSTER. 

perfect  nonchalance,  and  would  occasionally  turn  with  petu- 
lance, in  which  they  asserted  the  superiority  of  their  sex  to 
rank  and  opulence,  from  the  noble  or  wealthy  suitors  for  a 
draught  of  tea,  by  Avhom  they  were  surrounded.  The  unfortu- 
nate Irish  members  were  treated  with  a  peculiar  disdain,  and 
were  reminded  of  their  provinciality  by  the  look  of  these  Par- 
liamentary Hebes,  who  treated  them  as  mere  colonial  deputies 
should  be  received  in  the  purlieus  of  the  state. 

I  passed  from  these  ante-chambers  to  the  tavern,  where  I 
found  a  number  of  members  assembled  at  dinner.  Half  an 
hour  had  passed  away,  tooth jiicks  and  claret  were  now  begin- 
ning to  appear,  and  the  business  of  mastication  being  con- 
cluded, that  of  digestion  had  commenced,  and  many  an  honor- 
able gentleman,  I  observed,  who  seemed  to  prove  that  he  was 
born  only  to  digest.  At  the  end  of  a  long  corridor,  which 
opened  from  the  room  where  the  diners  were  assembled,  there 
stood  a  waiter  whose  office  it  was  to  inform  any  interrogator 
what  gentleman  was  speaking  below  stairs.  Nearly  opposite 
the  door  sat  two  English  county  members.  They  had  disposed 
of  a  bottle  each,  and,  just  as  the  last  glass  was  emptied,  one  of 
them  called  out  to  the  annunciator  at  the  end  of  the  passage 
for  intelligence.  "Mr.  Foster  on  his  legs!"  was  the  formida- 
ble answer.  "  Waiter,  bring  another  bottle  !"  was  the  imme- 
diate effect  of  this  information,  which  was  followed  by  a  simi- 
lar injunction  from  every  table  in  the  room.  I  perceived  that 
Mr.  Bellamy  owed  great  obligations  to  Mr.  Foster.  But  the 
latter  did  not  limit  himself  to  a  second  bottle  ;  again  and  again 
the  same  question  was  asked.,  and  again  the  same  announce- 
ment returned  —  "Mr.  Foster  upon  his  legs!"  The  answer 
seemed  to  fasten  men  in  inseparable  adhesiveness  to  their  seats. 
Thus  two  hours  went  by  —  when,  at  length,  "Mr.  Plunket  on 
his  legs,"  was  heard  from  the  end  of  the  passage,  and  the  whole 
convocation  of  compotators  rose  together  and  returned  to  the 
House. 

Some  estimate  of  the  eloquence  of  Mr.  Foster  may  be  formed 
from  this  evidence  of  its  effects.  I  am  unable  myself  to  supply, 
from  personal  observation,  any  better  detail  of  it.  But  it  is 
not  necessary  :  Mr.  Plunket,  in  a  single  phrase,  has  described 


ma    OPIATE    ORATORY.  253 

his  legislative  faculties,  and  on  tLc  niglit  of  wliicli  I  Lave  been 
speaking  remarked  that  "he  had  turned  history  into  an  old 
almanac."  I  should  not  omit  to  mention,  in  justice  to  Mr.  Fos- 
ter, that  in  converting  the  annals  of  mankind  to  this  valuable 
purpose,  he  exhibits  a  wonderful  diligence.  His  speeches  are 
the  result  of  great  industry,  and  he  takes  care  not  to  deliver 
himself  of  any  crude,  abortive  notions,  such  as  are  thrown  off 
in  extempore  debate;  but,  after  allowing  his  meditations  to 
mature  in  a  due  process  of  conception  in  his  mind,  brings  them 
forth  with  a  laborious  effort,  and  presents  his  intellectual  off- 
spring to  the  House  in  the  "  swaddling"  phraseology  in  which 
they  are  always  carefully  wrapped  up. 

It  was,  indeed,  at  one  time  believed  and  studiously  propa- 
gated by  his  friends,  that  he  did  not  prepare  his  orations,  and 
that  he  poured  out  his  useless  erudition,  and  his  mystical  dog- 
mas, without  premeditation  or  research.  That  erroneous  con- 
jecture has  been  recently  corrected ;  for,  upon  a  late  occasion, 
when  the  Chaplain  of  the  House  of  Commons  was  reading 
prayers,  at  four  o'clock,  Mr.  Foster,  who  appeared  to  those  at 
a  distance  to  be  kneeling  in  a  posture  of  profound  Parliament- 
ary piety,  with  his  hands  raised,  as  is  the  fashion  with  the 
devout,  to  his  lips,  was  heard  to  mutter  through  his  fingers : 
"  Had  it  been  my  good  fortune,  Mr.  Speaker,  to  have  caught 
your  eye  at  an  earlier  period  of  the  debate,  I  should  have  gone 
more  at  length,  than  I  now,  at  this  late  hour  of  the  night,  in- 
tend to  do,  into  the  details  of  a  question,  upon  which  the  integ- 
rity of  the  constitution,  the  sacred  privileges  of  the  Protestants 
of  Ireland,  and  the  purity  of  the  reformed  religion,  entirely 
depend."  Mr.  E-ichard  Martin,  the  then  member  for  Conna- 
mara,  who  happened  to  hear  Mr.  Foster,  communicated  this 
important  discovery ;  and  it  is  now  well  ascertained  that 
Mr.  Foster  takes  exceedingly  great  if  not  very  meritorious 
pains  at  his  oratorical  laboratory,  and  passes  many  a  mid- 
night vigil  in  compounding  those  opiates  with  which,  at  the 
expense  of  his  own  slumbers,  he  lulls  the  House  of  Commons 
to  repose. 

Mr.  Foster  may  be  considered  in  the  various  phases  of  bar- 
rister, scholar,  commissioner  of  education,  and  counsel  to  the 


254:  JOHN    LESLIE    FOSTER. 

commissioners  of  customs  and  excise.*  As  a  member  of  the 
bar,  he  is  not  very  remarkable.  He  is  not  in  considerable 
business,  wliich  I  am  inclined  to  attribute  to  his  dedication  of 
himself  to  political  pursuits ;  for  he  came  to  the  profession  un- 
der great  advantages,  having  industry,  a  tenacious  memory, 
and  the  patronage  of  the  late  Chief-Justice  Downes.  I  think 
that  he  would  have  succeeded  in  the  Court  of  Chancery,  had 
he  attended  exclusively  to  the  bar;  for  certainly  he  is  not  des- 
titute of  the  powers  of  clear  reasoning  and  perspicuous  exposi- 
tion. His  great  fault  is,  that  he  diffuses  an  air  of  importance 
over  all  that  he  says,  looks,  and  does,  which  is  not  unfrequently 
in  ludicrous  contrast  with  the  matter  before  him.  Instead  of 
speaking  trippingly  upon  the  tongue,  he  loads  his  utterance 

*  John  Leslie  Foster  was  grandson  of  Chief  Baron  Foster,  son  of  Dr.  Foster, 
Bishop  of  Clogher  (who  died  in  1787),  and  nephew  to  John  Foster,  Speaker 
of  the  Ii'ish  House  of  Commons,  who  was  raised  to  the  peerage  as  Lord  Oriel. 
Without  doubt,  Mr.  Leslie  Foster  took  double  pains  to  become  a  lawyer,  for 
though  called  to  the  Irish  bar  in  1803,  he  had  previously  been  admitted,  by 
the  Society  of  Lincoln's  Inn,  in  London,  to  the  English  bar  also.  In  1804,  he 
published  a  book  "  On  the  Principles  of  Commercial  Exchanges."  He  was 
industiious,  besides  being  connected  with  the  nobility  by  relationship  and  mar- 
riage, and  got  on  in  his  profession.  He  was  successively  appointed  Commis- 
sioner of  Education  (salary  twelve  hundred  pounds  sterling  a  year)  and  counsel 
to  the  Commissioners  of  Customs  and  Excise  —  the  average  annual  income  of 
which,  from  1818,  when  he  entered  into  the  office,  until  1828  (when  he  re- 
ceived as  "  compensation,"  two  thousand  pounds  sterling  for  life)  was  three 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  thirty  pounds  sterling.  Therefore  these  two  ap- 
pointments, the  duties  of  which  were  neither  onerous  nor  troublesome,  gave 
him  about  five  thousand  pounds  sterling  a  year,  besides  the  coUatei-al  business 
coming  to  him,  from  the  position  he  had  thus  obtained  ;  whatever  other  phe- 
nomenon marked  his  birth,  Leslie  Foster  did  not  come  into  the  world  with  a 
wooden  spoon  in  his  mouth.  His  politics  were  intensely  Tory,  and  recommen- 
ded him  to  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  as  a"  marvellous  proper  man"  to  represent 
its  intolerance  in  Parliament.  His  maiden  speech  was  delivered  in  April,  1812, 
in  opposition  to  Grattan's  motion  against  the  Penal  Laws,  and  he  published  it  in 
a  pamphlet.  In  Parliament,  from  first  to  last,  ho  was  consistent  —  in  resisting 
liberal  measures,  no  matter  by  whom  introduced.  In  July,  1830,  the  Duke  of 
Wellington  made  him  one  of  the  Barons  of  the  Court  of  Exchequer  in  Ireland. 
He  was  a  laborious  judge,  and  little  more  can  be  said  of  him  in  that  cajiacity. 
In  1842,  he  was  transfeiTed  to  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas.  He  went  the 
summer  Assize,  in  1842,  and  dined,  apparently  in  good  health,  with  the  Sheriff 
and  Magistrates  at  Cavan,  but  was  suddenly  taken  ill,  had  time  to  execute  a 
codicil  to  his  will,  and  expired,  July  10,  1842.     H**  ?lied  immensely  lich. —  M. 


MARQUIS    OF   ANGLESEY.  255 

witli  an  immense  weight  of  intonation,  and  is  not  more  ponder- 
ous and  oracular  in  Parliament  than  at  the  bar.  That  gravity, 
which  Rochefoucauld  has  so  well  called  *'  a  mystery  of  the 
body,"  pervades  his  gesture,  and  sits  in  eternal  repose  upon  his 
countenance.  He  advances  to  his  seat,  at  the  inner  bar,  like 
a  priest  walking  in  a  procession ;  he  lays  down  his  bag  upon 
the  green  table  as  if  he  were  depositing  a  treasure ;  he  bows 
to  the  court  like  a  mandarin  before  the  Emperor  of  China ; 
quotes  Tidd's  Practice  as  a  Rabbi  would  read  the  Talmud ; 
and  opens  the  "  Rules  and  Orders"  as  a  sorcerer  would  unclasp 
a  book  of  incantation. 

The  solemnity  which  distinguishes  him  in  Court,  attends 
him  out  of  it.  He  traverses  the  Hall  with  a  gait  and  aspect 
of  mystical  meditation;  and  when  he  has  divested  himself  of 
his  forensic  habiliments,  still  takes  care  to  retain  his  walk  of 
egregious  dignity  upon  his  return  to  Merrion-square.  Mr.  Fos- 
ter has  ascertained,  with  exact  precision,  the  distance  from  his 
house  to  the  Hall  of  the  Four  Courts ;  and  has  counted  the 
number  of  paces  which  it  is  requisite  that  he  should  perform, 
whether  he  should  go  through  College  Green  or  by  any  of  the 
lanes  at  the  back  of  Dublin  Castle,  Both  these  ways  have 
their  attractions.  In  the  centre  of  College  Green  stands  the 
statue  of  King  William,  on  which  Mr.  Foster  sometimes  pauses 
to  cast  a  look,  in  which,  of  late,  some  melancholy  has  been 
observed.  The  purlieus  of  the  Castle  are,  however,  his  more 
favorite,  and  perhaps  appropriate  walks,  especially  since  the 
order  for  Lord  Anglesey's  removal  has  arrived.*     But,  which- 

*  The  Marquis  of  Anglesey,  who  was  born  in  1768,  was  eldest  son  of  the 
late  Earl  of  Uxbridge,  and,  after  studying  at  Oxford,  was  appointed,  in  1793, 
when  Lord  Paget,  to  the  command  of  a  regiment  he  had  raised  among  his 
father's  tenantry.  He  served  with  this  corps,  under  the  Duke  of  York,  in 
Flanders,  and  again  in  the  expedition  to  Holland,  in  1799.  He  had  risen  to 
the  rank  of  Major-Gen eiul  when  he  joined  Sir  John  Moore's  army  in  the  Penin- 
sula, and  assisted  in  the  retreat  of  C.orunna,  and  the  battle  there,  Januaiy  16, 
1809,  where  Moore  was  killed.  He  was  married,  in  1795,  to  a  daughter  of 
the  Earl  of  Jersey,  by  whom  he  had  eight  children,  but,  soon  after  his  return 
from  Portugal  figured  as  defendant  in  a  crim.  con.  suit,  in  which  the  plaintiff 
was  Mr.  Henry  Wellesley  (brother  to  "  The  Duke,"  and  created  Lord  Cowley, 
in  1828),  who  obtained  twenty  thousand  pounds  sterling,  damages.  The  re- 
sult was  a  double  divorce :  Lady  Paget  from  him  (she  aftel-^^'ard  married  th« 


256  JOHN    LESLIE    FOSTER. 

ever  route  ha  adopts,  be  never  deviates  from  that  evenness 
and  regularity  of  gait  with  which  he  originally  enumerated 
the  number  of  paces  from  his  residence  to  the  Hall. 

I  was  a  good  deal  at  a  loss  to  account  for  this  peculiar  demea- 
nor, until  I  had  heard  that  Mr.  Foster  had  spent  some  time 
at  Constantinople.  He  was  introduced,  upon  one  occasion, 
to  the  Grand  Seignior  (a  scene  which  he  describes  with  great 
particularity),  and  has  ever  since  retained  an  expression  of 
dignity,  which  it  is  supposed  he  copied  from  the  Reis  Effendi, 

late  Duke  of  Argyll),  and  Mr.  Wellesley  from  his  guilty  wife,  nee  Lady  Char- 
lotte Cadogan.  Lord  Paget  married  the  frail  fair,  in  1810,  and  they  had  a 
large  family;  two  of  their  sons  are  members  of  the  British  House  of  Commons 
now  [1854]. — The  trial  and  its  revelations,  gave  much  unenviable  notoriety  to 
Lord  Paget.     He  was  alluded  to  by  Byron,  in  the  line, 

"  And,  worse  of  all,  a  Paget  for  your  wife. 

and  Moore  (albeit  Little  of  a  moralist),  thus  had  his  fling  in  a  didactic  poem, 

called  "  The  Skeptic,  a  philosophical  satire  :" — 

"  Paget,  who  sees,  upon  his  pillow  laid, 
A  face  for  which  ten  thousand  pounds  were  paid, 
Can  tell  how  quick,  before  a  jury,  flies 
The  spell  that  mocked  the  warm  seducer's  eyes." 

Many  years  subsequently,  when  he  had  become  viceroy,  the  Irish  ladies 
declined  visiting  his  wife,  and  having  caused  the  arrest  of  O'Connell,  on  a 
charge  of  seditious  language,  the  orator,  in  another  speech,  said,  "  He  has 
caused  my  wife  to  weep.  Does  he  know  the  value  of  a  virtumis  woman's  tear  ?" 
—  In  1812,  Lord  Paget  succeeded  his  father,  as  Earl  of  Uxbridge.  He  had  a 
cavalry  command  at  Waterloo,  and  having  there  lost  a  leg,  was  created  Marquis 
of  Anglesey.  In  1820,  he  voted  for  the  bill  of  pains  and  penalties  against  Queen 
Caroline.  In  February,  1828,  "  The  Duke,"'  who  had  just  became  Premier,  sent 
him  to  Ireland,  as  Viceroy,  and  his  conduct  there  was  generally  impartial.  But 
in  December,  1828,  having  received  a  letter  from  Dr.  Curtis  (the  Catholic  Pri- 
mate), which  the  Duke  of  Wellington  had  written  to  him,  suggesting  that  the 
Catholic  claims  be  "buried  in  oblivion"  for  a  time.  Lord  Anglesey  wrote  back 
an  epistle,  which  was  published,  recommending  the  continued  agitation  of  the 
question.  This  gave  great  offence  to  George  IV.,  who  had  become  tired  of 
eternal  discussions  on  Catholic  wrongs,  and  the  writer  was  recalled.  Two 
months  after,  the  final  settlement  of  the  question  was  recommended  in 
the  King's  Speech,  at  the  commencement  of  the  Parliamentary  Session.  Soon 
after,  he  was  again  made  Viceroy  of  L'eland,  and  so  continued  until  September, 
1833.  But  his  latter  reign  was  not  populaz-.  He  has  held  other  high  offices, 
connecttid  with  the  army,  and  is  the  senior  Field  Marshal  in  the  British'  army. 
He  is  now  (Januaiy,  1854)  in  his  eighty-sixth  year. —  M. 


HIS   PECULIAR   ERUDITION.  257 

if  not  from  the  Sultan  himself.  Hitherto  the  negotiations  with 
the  Porte  *have  been  unsuccessful.  If  Mr.  Foster  were  sent 
out  as  our  minister,  such  a  sympathetic  solemnity  would  take 
place  between  him  and  the  Grrand  Vizier,  that  many  difficul- 
ties would,  it  is  likely,  be  got  rid  of;  and  he  would,  by  his 
Asiatic  diplomacy  of  countenance  and  his  Oriental  gravity  of 
look,  accomplish  far  more  than  Lord  Strangford*  was  able 
to  effect. 

As  a  scholar,  Mr.  Leslie  Foster  is,  beyond  all  doubt,  a  per- 
son of  very  various  and  minute  erudition.  In  every  drawing- 
room  and  at  every  dinner-table  at  which  he  appears,  amaze- 
ment is  produced  by  the  vastness  of  his  knowledge  ;  and  under- 
graduates from  the  College,  and  young  ladies  whose  stockings 
are  but  darned  with  blue  silk,  wonder  tliat  even  a  head  of 
such  great  diameter  should  be  capable  of  containing  such 
enormous  masses  of  the  most  recondite  and  diversified  lore.t 
The  President  of  the  Royal  Academy  of  Laputa,  or  the  father 
of  Martinus  Scriblerus,  could  not  have  surpassed  him  in  the 
character,  the  extent,  and  the  application  of  his  knowledge. 
No  matter  what  topics  may  be  presented  in  the  trivialities  of 
discourse,  he  avails  himself  of  every  opportunity  to  evacuate 
his  erudition.  He  buries  every  petty  subject  under  the  enor- 
mity of  his  learning,  and  piles  a  mountain  on  every  pigmy- 
theme.  If  he  finds  a  boy  whipping  a  top,  he  stops  to  explain 
the  principles  upon  which  it  is  put  into  motion.  He  is  versed 
in  all  points  of  science  connected  with  the  playing  of  marbles. 
Should  a  pair  of  bellows  fall  in  his  way,  he  enters  into  a  dis- 

*  Viscount  Sti'angford,  in  the  Irish,  and  Baron  Pensliurst,  in  the  British  peer- 
age, distinguished  himself  nearly  half  a  century  ago,  as  the  ti'anslator  of  Camoens, 
the  Portuguese  poet.  For  this,  he  -^as  duly  niched  and  pedestaled  by  Byi'on, 
in  "  English  Bards  and  Scotch  Reviewers^  He  was  born  in  1780,  and  is  yet 
alive  [1854]  ;  he  has  been  Ambassador  to  Turkey,  Russia,  &c. —  His  son,  Mr. 
Smythe,  formerly  M.  P.  for  Canterbuiy,  has  written  some  pretty  verses,  is  a 
good  sjieaker,  and,  when  in  Parliament,  was  a  leader  of  the  Young  England 
party. —  M. 

t  If  the  quantity  of  brains  be  estimated  by  the  size  of  the  skull,  Mr.  Leslie 
Foster  ought  to  have  been  a  very  clever  man.  His  head  was  large,  out  of  all 
proportion,  and  had  a  curious  oscillating  motion,  more  peculiar  than  graceful 
—  something  like  the  vibration  of  a  Chinese  Mandarin's  image  in  a  grocer'* 
window. —  M. 


258  JOHN    LESLIE    FOSTER. 

sertation  upon  the  structure  of  the  human  lungs ;  and  applies 
to  those  domestic  conveniences  of  which  there  is  such  a  want 
in  the  modern  Athens,  his  learning  in  hydraulics.*     In  short, 

*  Such  another  "Admirable  Crichton"  as  this,  was  to  be  found,  a  few  years 
ago,  in  the  person  of  the  late  Egerton  Smith,  for  many  years  editor  of  T^te 
Liverpool  Mercury,  in  England.  He  commenced  life  a*  a  spectacle-maker,  but 
had  small  skill  in  that  craft,  and  took  to  the  press.  He  sprinkled  his  articles 
with  Greek  and  Latin  sentences,  rarely  applicable  to  the  subject,  and  apparently 
taken,  at  hap-hazard  from  some  Dictionary  of  Quotations.  In  a  previous  work 
of  mine,  his  character  is  sketched  in  full,  and  I  take  leave  to  reproduce  it  here. 
— "  He  bore  the  rather  uncommon  patronymic  of  Smith.  In  his  newspaper 
he  was  chiefly  distinguished  by  reason  of  the  number  of  hobbies  which  he  rode. 
His  original  occupation  of  optician  gave  him  a  certain  mechanical  facility  in 
making  toys  —  puzzles  for  the  curious  and  the  idle.  Asserting  that  he  was  one 
of  the  best  swimmers  in  the  world,  his  delight  was  to  exhibit  himself  in  the 
Mersey,  floundering  like  a  porpoise,  and  confident  that  the  feats  of  Leander 
and  Byron  were  trifling  in  comparison  with  his  own.  Avowing  the  most  phil- 
anthropic motives,  he  invented  cork-jackets  to  prevent  death  by  drowning,  and 
—  sold  them  at  a  large  profit.  He  contended  that  the  boomerang  of  New  South 
Wales  was  a  weapon  worthy  of  being  universally  adopted  in  Eui'opean  wai'fare, 
aud  spent  a  whole  summer  in  throwing  this  projectile  into  the  air,  to  ascertain 
its  force,  and  perfect  his  own  skill.  But  the  triumph  of  his  experiments  and 
discoveries  in  science,  and  that  on  which  he  chiefly  prided  himself,  was  to 
show  that  a  top  (such  as  children  of  a  lesser  growth  are  accustomed  to  whip, 
in  play),  might  be  kept  spinning  for  half  an  hour  upon  a  china  plate.  During 
a  series  of  years,  he  kept  this  subject  before  the  public,  in  his  newspaper,  de- 
voting columns  to  its  elucidations,  and  adorning  them  with  diagrams  and  wood- 
cuts, showing  the  course  of  the  spinning  top,  with  portraits  of  that  new  instru- 
ment of  science.  In  his  newspaper,  also,  were  given  views  of  the  cox'k-jackets, 
and  sketches  of  the  boomerang.  There,  too,  were  occasionally  exhibited  sketch- 
es of  himself  in  the  Mersey — floating,  swimming,  or  trying  to  perform  some 
such  notable  aquatic  feat.  For  a  long  series  of  years  —  certainly  exceeding 
thirty  —  half  a  column  a  week  was  dedicated,  by  this  illustrious  obscure,  to 
himself,  his  notions,  and  his  hobbies.  So  strongly  did  he  exhibit  the  spirit  of 
egotism  in  these  articles,  that  it  was  frequently  remarked,  that  his  biography 
might  easily  be  compiled  from  the  personal  references  to  himself  and  his  move- 
ments in  the  "  Notices  to  Correspondents."  On  one  occasion  he  announced, 
that  having  charitably  lent  an  old  umbrella  to  a  strange  lady,  in  a  shower  ol 
rain,  she  actually  had  the  dishonesty  not  to  return  it,  and  during  many  succcs- 
eive  weeks,  he  poured  out  lamentations  on  his  loss,  describing  the  aspect  of 
the  article,  the  attire  of  the  non-retuming  borrower,  and  amusing  the  public 
with  his  gi-iefs  over  the  missing  umbrella, 

"  *  Like  the  lost  Pleiad,  seen  no  more  below.' 
Nor  wore  his  personal  confidences  limited  to  his  newspaper.      Thence  they 
were  transferred  to  a  cheap  literary  weakling  which  he  also  published,  and 


EOT   SMITH.  259 

he  IS  omniscient ;  and  if  I  were  a  believer  in  the  transmigra- 
tion of  souls,  I  should  be  disposed  to  think  that  the  spirit  of 
the  professor  at  Bruges,  who  challenged  all  mankind  to  dis- 
pute with  him  "  de  omni  scibili  et  de  quolihet  enie,''*  had  reap- 
peared in  his  person ;  though  I  hope  that  he  would  be  less 
puzzled  in  solving  the  question  of  law  proposed  by  Sir  Thomas 
More  to  that  celebrated  scholar  respecting  a  replevin  * 

finally  found  a  resting-place  in  a  monthly  octavo  composed  of  the  picked  mat- 
ter of  his  newspaper  and  periodical.  Meddling  with  Cobbett,  in  an  attempt 
at  political  discussion,  he  incurred  the  anger  of  that  nervous  writer,  who  forth- 
with registered  him  as  '  Bot  Smith,'  by  which  appellation,  constantly  repeated 
by  him  of  the  Gridiron,  he  eventually  became  so  well  known,  in  and  out  of 
Livei-pool,  that  it  was  taken  to  be  his  true  name,  and  letters  were  frequently  so 
addressed  to  him.  In  a  word,  his  case  affords  a  striking  example  of  the  very 
small  degree  of  intelligence  sufficient  to  establish  a  local  reputation  as  a  '  triton 
of  the  minnows.'  In  a  metropolis  such  a  person  would  have  speedily  found 
his  level,  beneath  the  feet  of  real  merit.  When  he  died,  about  the  year  1841, 
his  townsmen  gave  him  the  honor  of  a  public  funeral,  and  I  have  heard  that 
they  placed  his  statue  in  their  Mechanics'  Institute  !  As  the  palette  of  Wilkie 
was  let  into  the  pedestal  of  his  statue  in  the  National  Gallery,  in  London,  a 
spinning-top  and  china-plate  should  have  been  introduced  into  the  Smith  statue 
at  Liverpool.  When  the  Pickwick  Papers  introduced  the  clever  and  striking  full- 
length  of  Mr.  Pott,  Editor  of  the  Eatanswill  Gazette,  many  persons  in  Liver- 
pool fancied  that  independent  of  the  name  being  suggestive  of  the  soubriquet 
bestowed  on  him  by  Cobbett,  the  original  could  have  been  no  other  than  their 
own  philosopher  of  the  spinning-top.  The  appearance  —  'a  tall,  thin  man, 
with  a  sandy-colored  head  inclined  to  baldness,  and  a  face  in  which  solemn 
importance  was  blended,  with  a  look  of  unfathomable  profundity;'  the  invari- 
able attire  —  *.a  long  brown  surtout,  with  a  black  cloth  waistcoat,  and  drab 
trousers ;'  the  constant  reference  in  conversation,  to  articles  which  he  had 
written  in  his  newspaper  on  local  politics,  the  interest  of  which,  trifling  at  any 
time,  had  long  since  passed  away;  the  ruling  idea,  that  throughout  the  coun- 
try in  general,  and  in  London  in  particular,  there  was  an  intense  excitement 
caused  by  whatever  he  wrote ;  the  constant  and  uncourteous  abuse  of  all  oppo- 
sing journalists ;  and,  to  crown  all,  the  triumphant  boast  that  his  critic  had 
wi'itten  on  Chinese  Metaphysics  by  reading  in  the  Encyclopedia  under  C  for 
China,  and  under  M  for  Metaphysics,  and  'had  combined  his  information,'  — 
if  all  these  coincidences  were  accidental,  then,  at  hap-hazard,  did  Mr.  Dickens 
unconsciously  exhibit  a  person  and  an  idiosyncracy  remarkably  like  those  of 
Mr.  Bot  Smith."— M. 

*  Mr.  Foster  is  deeply  versed  in  Irish  antiquities.  He  alleges  that  he  dis- 
covered in  the  county  of  KeiTy,  a  very  singular  building,  which  is  called  Staigne 
Fort.  General  Vallancey  thought  that  it  was  a  Phoenician  theatre.  I  am  not 
awaie  what  conjecture  Mr.  Foster  formed  respecting  it;  probably  he  takes  it 


260  JOHN    LESLIE    FOSTER. 

I  pass,  by  a  natural  transition,  from  tlie  vast  acquirements 
of  Mr.  Foster,  to  that  office  which,  from  its  connection  with 
learning,  it  would  appear  at  first  view  that  he  was  admirably 
qualified  to  fill.  He  was,  for  a  considerable  period,  a  Commis- 
sioner of  Education,  with  an  enormous  salary;  and  thus,  with 
the  sums  which  he  has  received  as  a  Commissioner  of  Inquiry 
into  the  Courts  of  Justice,  and  his  vast  emoluments  as  counsel 
to  the  Commissioners  of  Customs  and  Excise,  Mr.  Foster  has 
poured  an  immense  quantity  of  the  public  money  into  his  cof- 
fers. But,  however  the  love  of  learning,  and  its  unquestion- 
able possession,  might  appear  to  render  Mr.  Foster  an  eligible 
person  to  investigate  the  progress  of  education,  yet  his  predi- 
lections, both  political  and  religious,  were  so  strong,  that  the 
Eoman  Catholics  considered  the  appointment  of  a  person  so 
legally  orthodox,  to  report  upon  the  state  of  their  schools,  as 
an  injustice. 

In  order  to  give  some  aspect  of  fairness  to  this  proceeding, 
and  to  create  a  counterpoise  to  his  prejudices,  the  Government 
united  with  Mr.  Foster,  a  gentleman  in  every  way  well  adapted 
to  encounter  him,  the  Eemembrancer  of  the  Court  of  Exche- 
quer, Mr.  Blake.  I  believe  that  it  w^as  not  anticipated  that 
that  gentleman  would  have   approved  himself  so  stout  and 

for  an  old  conventicle,  employed  by  the  Irish  Christians  before  Popery  was 
in  use.  Mr.  Bland,  the  writer  of  an  essay  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Royal 
Irish  Academy,  makes  the  following  observations  upon  Mr.  Foster's  claims  to 
the  discovery  of  this  building:  "About  nine  years  back,  Mr.  Leslie  Foster 
visited  this  country,  and  passed  Staigne  by  unnoticed ;  but  being  prevailed  on 
by  me,  he  was  reluctantly  induced  to  return  and  see  it.  He  afterward  published, 
in  some  periodical  work  or  newspaper,  an  account  of  it ;  and  being  ignorant, 
I  suppose,  of  what  I  have  stated,  respecting  Mr.  Pelham's  correspondence  with 
General  Vallancey,  he  considered  himself  the  first  discoverer  of  this  ancient 
structure." — Vol.  XIV.  p.  22.  [General  Vallancey,  who  was  bora  in  1721,  and 
wrote  much  upon  the  Antiquities  of  Ireland,  was  not  "a  son  of  the  sod.''  In 
his  youth,  when  quartered  in  Ii-eland  as  an  officer  of  engineers,  he  closely  stud- 
ied the  language,  antiquities,  and  topography  of  the  island.  He  closely  &nd 
scientifically  surveyed  it  (for  which  Government  gave  him  one  thousand  pounds 
steriing),  and  besides  contributing  to  various  periodicals,  wrote  a  Grammar  and 
Dictionary  of  the  Irish  language,  "  Collectanea  de  Rebus  Hibernicis,'*  &c. 
Finally,  he  attained  the  rank  of  General.  The  object  of  most  of  his  Irish 
works  was  to  show,  I  believe,  that  Ireland  was  peopled  by  the  Phoenicians* 
When  Vallancey  died  (in  1812),  he  was  more  than  ninety  years  old. —  M.l 


BLAKE   AND   FOSTEK.  261 

uncompromising  an  asserter  of  the  interests  of  his  country  and 
the  honor  of  his  religion.  Mr.  Foster  had  originally,  from  his 
previous  habits  of  mystical  research,  and  from  his  familiarity 
with  the  mysterious,  great  advantages  over  Mr.  Blake,  in 
examining  the  Catholic  priesthood  upon  questions  of  dogmatic 
theology;  but  Mr.  Blake,  who  has  extraordinary  powers  of 
acquiring  knowledge,  and  of  fitting  his  mind  to  every  intellec- 
tual occupation,  resolved  to  make  himself  a  match  for  this 
Aquinas  of  Protestantism,  and  threw  himself  off  from  the 
heights  of  the  law  into  the  deepest  lore  into  which  Mr.  Foster 
had  ever  plunged.  He  rose  from  the  dark  bottoms  of  divinity 
as  black  and  as  begrimed  with  mysteries  as  his  brother  Com- 
missioner ;  and,  thus  prepared,  they  set  off  upon  their  tour 
through  the  Catholic  colleges  of  Ireland. 

The  object  of  Leslie  Foster  was  to  bring  out  whatever  was 
unfavorable  to  the  Irish  priesthood  ;  while  Mr.  Blake  (himself 
a  Roman  Catholic)  justly  endeavored  to  rectify  the  miscon- 
structions of  his  brother  inquirer,  and  to  present  the  doctrines 
of  his  religion,  and  the  character  of  its  ministers,  in  the  least 
exceptionable  form.  When  Mr.  Foster  got  hold  of  a  country 
priest,  and  put  him  to  his  shifts  by  some  interrogatory  touching 
the  decrees  of  the  earlier  Councils,  Mr.  Blake  would  intervene, 
and  rescue  his  fellow-Catholic  from  his  embarrassments  by 
suggesting  a  solution  of  the  difficulty ;  and,  Avithout  getting 
into  it,  helped  him  out  of  the  deep  quagmire  of  theology  into 
which  his  examiner  had  led  him.  If  Mr.  Foster  attempted  to 
quote  a  passage  from  some  moth-eaten  folio  with  any  deviation 
from  a  just  fidelity  of  citation,  Mr.  Blake  would  immediately 
detect  him.  Mr.  Foster  would  rely  upon  the  disputable  ethics 
of  some  ancient  Catholic  schoolman ;  and  Mr.  Blake  would 
straight  produce  a  Protestant  divine  who  inculcated  the  same 
doctrine.  Sometimes  Mr.  Blake,  not  contented  with  acting  on 
the  defensive,  would  invade  the  enemy's  territory ;  and  if  an 
ex-priest  were  tendered  by  Mr.  Foster  for  cross-examination, 
the  Popish  Remembrancer  of  the  Exchequer  exhibited  all  his 
acumen  and  dexterity  in  exposing  the  renegade.  A  person  of 
the  name  of  Dickson,  who  had  been  a  Catholic  priest,  was 
produced  in  order  to  vilify  Mayuooth,  where  he  had  received 


262  JOHN    LESLIE  FOSTER. 

his  eleemosynary  education.  Mr.  Blake  took  hold  of  him,  and, 
by  a  series  of  admirable  interrogatories,  eminently  distin- 
guished by  astuteness  and  power  of  combination,  laid  this 
deserter  of  his  altars  bare,  and  tore  off  his  apostate  surplice. 

But  this  was  not  the  most  remarkable  instance  in  which  Mr. 
Foster  was  foiled  in  his  efforts  to  convert  his  office  into  the 
means  of  promoting  his  religious  and  political  opinions.  He 
had  the  misfortune  to  fall  into  tlie  hands  of  the  Provincial  of 
the  Jesuits  in  Ireland,  the  E,ev.  Mr.  Kenny.  A  desire  was,  if 
I  rightly  recollect,  expressed  by  Sir  T.  Lethbridge,*  that  a 
Jesuit  should  be  produced  at  the  bar  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
in  order  that  some  sort  of  judgment  should  be  formed  of  the 
peculiar  nature  of  the  ecclesiastical  animal.  Mr.  Kenny  is  the 
most  perfect  specimen  of  this  class  of  Catholic  phenomena  that 
could  be  produced.  He  wants,  it  must  be  confessed,  some  of 
the  external  attributes  which  should  enter  into  the  composition 
of  the  heau  ideal  of  Jesuitism.  He  is  by  no  means  gracefully 
constructed ;  for  there  is  a  want  of  level  about  his  shoulders, 
and  his  countenance,  when  uninvested  with  his  spiritual  expres- 
sion, is  rather  of  a  forbidding  and  lurid  cast.  The  eyes  are 
of  deep  and  fiery  jet,  and  so  disposed,  that  Avhile  one  is  bent 
in  humility  to  the  earth,  the  other  is  raised  in  inspiration  to 
Heaven; — brows  of  thick  and  bushy  black  spread  in  straight 
lines  above  them.  His  rectilinear  forehead  is  strongly  in- 
dented with  passion  —  satire  sits  upon  his  thin  lips,  and  a  livid 
hue  is  spread  over  a  quadrangular  face,  the  sunken  cheeks  of 
which  exhibit  the  united  effects  of  monastic  abstinence  and 
profound  meditation.  The  countenance  is  Irish  in  its  configur- 
ation ;  but  Mr.  Kenny  was  educated  at  Palermo,  and  a  Sicilian 
suavity  of  manner  is  thrown,  like  a  fine  silken  veil,  over  his 
strong  Hibernian  features.  The  beaming  rays  of  his  eye  are 
seldom  allowed  to  break  out,  for  they  are  generally  bent  to  the 
ground,  and  habitually  concealed  by  lids,  fringed  with  long 
dark  lashes,  which  drop  studiously  over  them. 

Such  is  the  outward  Jesuit: — his  talents  and  acquirements 

*  A  county  member  of  Parliament,  bull-headed  and  intolerant,  who,  from  the 
material  of  one  of  his  garments,  was  usually  called  "  Sir  Thomas  Leather- 
breeches." —  M. 


A   JESUIT.  263 

are  of  the  first  order,  and  in  argumentative  eloquence  he  has 
no  superior  in  Ireland.  Leslie  Foster,  in  the  spirit  of  theologi- 
cal chivalry,  and  having  set  up  as  a  knight-errant  against 
popery,  happened  to  meet  with  this  disciple  of  Loyala,  and 
resolved  to  break  a  syllogism  with  him.  Mr.  Kenny  was  duly 
summoned  to  attend  the  Commissioners  of  Education,  and 
upon  this  occasion  the  interposition  of  Mr.  Blake  was  quite 
unnecessary.  With  a  blended  expression  of  affected  humility 
and  bitter  mockery,  the  follower  of  Ignatius  answered  all  Mr. 
Foster's  questions,  correcting  the  virulence  of  sarcasms  by  the 
softness  of  his  mellifluous  cadences,  and  by  the  religious  clasp- 
ing of  his  hands,  which  were  raised  in  such  a  way  as  to  touch 
the  extremities  of  his  chin,  while  he  lamented,  with  a  dolorous 
voice,  the  lamentable  ignorance  and  delusion  of  the  gentleman 
who  could,  in  the  nineteenth  century,  put  him  such  prepos- 
terous interrogatories. 

Leslie  Foster  Avas  baffled  by  every  response,  and  amid  the 
jeers  of  his  brother  Commissioners,  with  Mr.  Blake  compas- 
sionating him  on  one  side,  and  Mr.  Glascot*  nudging  him  at 
the  other,  while  Frankland  Lewis  trod  upon  his  toes,  was  at 
length  persuaded  to  give  up  his  desperate  undertaking.  Some 
of  the  questions  put  to  the  Jesuit  were  rather  of  an  offensive 
character;  and  one  of  the  Commissioners,  when  the  examina- 
tion had  concluded,  begged  that  he  would  make  allowance  for 
the  imperious  sense  of  duty  which  had  induced  Mr.  Foster  to 
commit  an  apparent  violation  of  the  canons  of  good  breeding. 
**  Holy  Ignatius !"  exclaimed  the  son  of  Loyola,  holding  his 
arms  meekly  upon  his  breast,  "I  am  not  offended  —  I  never 
saw  a  more  simple-minded  gentleman  in  all  my  life !" 

Mr.  Foster,  so  far  as  the  receipt  of  the  public  money  is  con- 
cerned, does  not  bear  out  the  Jesuit's  ejaculation.  He  has  not 
proved  himself  exceedingly  simple,  by  uniformly  adopting  that 
course  of  political  conduct  which  was  calculated  to  advance 
his  personal  interests  and  to  better  his  fortune.  I  have  already 
mentioned  that  he  received  large  annual  stipends  from  Govern- 

*  Toby  Glascot  was  a  sharp  Dublin  attorney,  who  sided  with  the  then  dom- 
inant Ascendency  party.  In  1829,  he  made  a  show  of  starting  as  a  candidate, 
against  O'Connell,  after  the  Catholic  Relief  Bill  was  passed. —  M. 


264:  JOHN    LESLIE    FOSTER. 

meiit  as  commissioner  of  education  and  of  justice.  His  chief 
source  of  emolument,  the  fountain  from  which  his  Pactollis 
flows,  is  in  the  revenue  of  Ireland  ;  and,  I  conceive  that,  m  his 
instance,  a  very  unqualified  job  has  recently  been  effected, 
notwithstanding  all  the  boasted  cleansing  of  that  Cloaca 
Maxima,  the  Customhouse.  I  put  all  levity  aside,  because,  in 
my  judgment,  the  expedient  by  which  an  annual  sum  of  two 
thousand  pounds  sterling  has  been  given  to  him  calls  for  decided 
condemnation ;  and  furthermore,  I  am  of  opinion,  that  he  is 
bound  to  resign  his  seat  in  Parliament  under  the  Irish  statute 
passed  in  the  thirty-third  year  of  the  late  King. 

Mr.  Foster  was  appointed  counsel  to  the  Commissioners  of 
Customs  and  Excise  in  April,  1818.  He  succeeded  Sir  Charles 
Ormsby,  with  a  salary  of  one  hundred  pounds  sterling  a  year, 
payable  by  the  Board  of  Customs,  with  certain  fees  on  each 
brief.  The  Irish  Board  of  Customs  was  annihilated  by  the 
Consolidation  Act,  which  abolished  the  employments  held 
under  their  authority.  The  office  held  by  Mr.  Foster  was 
abolished  as  never  having  been  necessary  or  useful,  and  the 
Lords  of  the  Treasury  recognise  that  abolition.  If  Mr.  Foster 
has  lost  his  original  appointment,  and  in  lieu  thereof  the  Crown 
retain  him  (is  not  every  information  in  the  name  of  the 
Crown,  and  is  he  not  its  counsel?)  "to  act  as  counsel  to  the 
Board,  with  a  salary  of  d£2000  a  year,"  to  be  payable  without 
any  reference  to  the  extent  or  even  the  existence  of  business, 
this  is  a  new  office  under  the  Crown ;  and  if  it  be,  he  must 
resignhis  seat,  under  the  33d  of  George  III.,  cap.  41,  in  which 
it  is  enacted,  by  section  4,  that,  "  if  any  member  of  the  House 
of  Commons  shall  accept  any  office  of  profit  from  the  Crown, 
during  such  time  as  he  shall  continue  a  member,  his  seat  shall 
thereupon  become  vacant,  and  a  writ  shall  issue  for  a  new 
election."  The  41st  of  George  III.  virtually  re-enacts  these 
clauses.  In  that  event,  Harry  Mills  and  the  Doctor  will  again 
parade  the  streets  of  Dundalk ;  Leslie  Foster  will  again  wipe 
the  cold  exsudation  from  his  forehead  with  an  orange  kerchief, 
but  he  will  not  again  be  carried  in  triumph  through  the  woods 
of  Cullen,  amidst  the  applauses  of  the  yeomanry,  the  hurras 
of  the  parson,  the  sexton,  and  the  parish  clerk,  and  the  accla- 
mations of  the  police. 


THE    CLARE   ELECTION,   IN  1828. 

The  Catholics  had  passed  a  resokition,  at  one  of  their  aggre- 
gate meetings,  to  oppose  the  election  of  every  candidate  who 
should  not  pledge  himself  against  the  Duke  of  Wellington's 
Administration.  This  measure  lay  for  some  time  a  mere  dead 
letter  in  the  registry  of  the  Association,  and  was  gradually 
passing  into  oblivion,  when  an  incident  occurred  which  gave  it 
an  importance  far  greater  than  had  originally  belonged  to  it. 
Lord  John  Russell,  flushed  with  the  victory  which  had  been 
achieved  in  the  repeal  of  the  Test  and  Corporation  Acts,*  and 
grateful  to  the  Duke  of  Wellington  for  the  part  which  he  had 
taken,  wrote  a  letter  to  Mr.  O'Connell,  in  which  he  suggested 
that  the  conduct  of  his  Grace  had  been  so  fair  and  manly  tow- 
ard the  Dissenters  as  to  entitle  him  to  their  gratitude ;  and 
that  they  would  consider  the  reversal  of  the  resolution  which 
had  been  passed  against  his  government  as  evidence  of  the  in- 
terest which  was  felt  in  Ireland,  not  only  in  the  great  question 
peculiarly  applicable  to  that  country,  but  in  the  assertion  of 
religious  freedom  through  the  empire.  The  authority  of  Lord 
John  Russell  is  considerable,  and  Mr.  O'Connell,  under  the 
influence  of  his  advice,  proposed  that  the  anti- Wellington  res- 

**  In  February,  1828,  Lord  John  Russell  introduced  a  bill  for  the  abolition 
of  the  Test  and  Corporation  Acts  (which  subjected  Dissenters  to  civil  disabili- 
ties on  account  of  their  religious  faith),  and  it  passed  into  a  law  that  session, 
chiefly  in  consequence  of  the  feeble  opposition  offered  to  it  by  Peel,  then  Min- 
isterial leader  in  the  Commons.  In  truth,  Peel  was  just  then  in  a  ti-ansition 
state,  having  seen  that  the  old  Tory  system  of  intolerance  could  not  continue, 
and  scarcely  knowing  how  to  change  it.  Observant  politicians  judged,  when 
relief  was  afforded  to  the  Dissenters,  that  justice  to  the  Catholics  must  follow : 
it  did,  in  1829.  — M. 

Vol.  II.--12 


266  CLARE   ELECTION. 

olution  should  be  witl. drawn.  This  motion  was  violently  op- 
posed, and  Mr.  O'Connell  perceived  that  the  antipathy  to  the 
Great  Captain  was  more  deeply  rooted  than  he  had  originally 
imagined.  After  a  long  and  tempestuous  debate,  he  suggested 
an  amendment,  in  which  the  principle  of  his  original  motion 
was  given  up,  and  the  Catholics  remained  pledged  to  their 
hostility  to  the  Duke  of  Wellington's  Administration.  Mr. 
O'Counell  has  reason  to  rejoice  at  his  failure  in  carrying  this 
proposition ;  for,  if  he  had  succeeded,  no  ground  for  opposing 
the  return  of  Mr.  Vesey  Fitzgerald  would  have  existed. 

The  promotion  of  that  gentleman  to  a  seat  in  the  Cabinet 
created  a  vacancy  in  the  representation  of  the  county  of  Clare  ; 
and  an  opportunity  was  afforded  to  the  Roman  Catholic  body 
of  proving  that  the  resolution  which  had  been  passed  against 
the  Duke  of  Wellington's  Government  was  not  an  idle  vaunt, 
but  that  it  could  be  carried  in  a  striking  instance  into  effect. 
It  was  determined  that  all  the  power  of  the  people  should  be 
put  forth.*     The  Association  looked  round  for  a  candidate,  and, 

*  Clare  Election,  the  unexpected  result  of  which  certainly  compelled  Wel- 
lington and  Peel  to  grant  Catholic  Emancipation  in  1829.  look  place  under  the 
following  circumstances.  The  Catholic  Association  had  resolved  to  oppose  the 
election  or  re-election  of  any  member  of  a  Government  hostile  to  the  Catholic 
claims.  On  June  13,  1828  (the  Duke  of  Wellington  being  Premier),  Mr.  Vesey 
Fitzgerald,  who  had  always  voted  for  the  Catholics,  was  gazetted  President  of 
the  Board  of  Trade,  the  holder  of  which  office  is  always  a  Cabinet  Minister. 
On  the  16th  of  June,  he  was  also  appointed  Treasurer  to  the  Navy.  It  is  a 
constitutional  rule,  in  England,  that  no  office,  having  emolument  attached,  can 
be  conferred  by  the  Crown  on  a  member  of  the  House  of  Commons,  without 
his  thereby  vacating  his  seat:  which  explains  how,  on  a  change  of  Ministry, 
Parliamentary  business  is  usually  suspended  until  the  new  officials  have  gone 
back  to  their  different  constituencies,  for  re-election  or  rejection.  Mr.  Fitz- 
gerald, who  was  M.  P.  for  Clare  county,  therefore,  had  to  present  himself  to 
the  electors;  and  did  so,  without  any  anticipation  of  i-ejection.  Mr.  O'Connell, 
on  becoming  a  candidate,  pledged  h  is  professional  reputation  (than  which  none 
was  higher)  on  his  assertion  that,  f  elected,  he  could  take  his  seat  in  the 
House  of  Commons  without  taking  the  then  usual  oath  that  the  Catholic  reli- 
gion was  idolatrous.  Mr,  Charles  Butler,  the  eminent  CathoHc  barrister  of 
London,  well  known  as  an  erudite  constitutional  lawyer,  unexpectedly  backed 
this  assertion  by  an  elaborate  argument  which  went  to  show  that  Mr.  O'Con- 
nell's  view  was  right.  The  election  commenced  on  June  30,  1828,  and  pro- 
ceeded as  graphically  related  by  Mr.  Shell.     The  entire  constituency  of  the 


MAJOR   MACNAMAR\.  267 

without  having  previously  consulted  him,  re-elected  Major 
M*Namara,  a  Protestant  in  religion,  a  Catholic  in  politics,  and 
a  Milesian  in  descent.  Although  he  is  equally  well  known  in 
Dublin  and  in  Clare,  his  provincial  is  distinct  from  his  metro- 
politan reputation.  In  Dublin  he  may  be  seen  at  half-past  four 
o'clock,  strolling,  with  a  lounge  of  easy  importance,  toward 
Kild are-street  Club-house,  and  dressed  in  exact  imitation  of 
the  King  [Ceorge  IV.] ;  to  whose  royal  whiskers  the  Major's 
are  considered  to  bear  a  profusely-powdered  and  highly -frizzled 
affinity.  Not  contented  with  this  single  point  of  resemblance, 
he  has,  by  the  entertainment  of  "  a  score  or  two  of  tailors,"  and 
the  profound  study  of  the  regal  fashions,  achieved  a  complete 
look  of  Majesty ;  and,  by  the  turn  of  his  coat,  the  dilation  of 
his  chest,  and  an  aspect  of  egregious  dignity,  succeeded  in  pro- 
ducing in  his  person  a  very  fine  efSigy  of  his  sovereign. 

With  respect  to  his  moral  qualities,  he  belongs  to  the  good 
old  school  of  Irish  gentlemen ;  and,  from  the  facility  of  his 
manners,  and  his  graceful  mode  of  arbitrating  a  difference,  has 
acquired  ^  very  eminent  character  as  "  a  friend."  No  man  is 
better  versed  in  the  strategies  of  Irish  honor.     He  chooses  the 

county  of  Clare  was  eight  thousand,  of  whom  two  hundred  were  twenty  and 
fifty  pound  freeholders  and  rent-chargers,  while  the  rest  were  forty-shilling  free- 
holders—  the  class  who  had  beaten  the  Beresfords,  at  Waterford  election,  in 
1826,  and  would  have  been  disfranchised,  by  one  of  the  "  wings,"  had  the 
Catholic  Relief  Bill  been  passed  the  year  before.  The  polling  terminated  on 
Saturday,  July  5, 1828.  and  the  result  showed  —  for  O'Connell,  2,057  ;  for  Fitz- 
gerald, 982:  majority  for  O'Connell,  1,075.  When  the  state  of  the  poll  was 
announced,  the  friends  of  Mr.  Fitzgerald  presented  a  protest  to  the  High- 
SheriflF,  who  was  the  returning-officer,  claiming  that  Mr.  F.  be  declared  duly 
elected,  because  Mr.  O'Connell  was  a  Catholic,  and  had  publicly  declared  that 
he  would  not  take  the  usual  oaths  to  sit  in  Parliament.  The  case  was  fully 
argued  before  the  Sheriff  and  his  assessor  (a  lawyer  of  eminence),  and  the  result 
was  that  Mr.  O'Connell  must  be  returned  as  duly  elected  by  a  majority  of  votes  ; 
that  the  law  did  not  disqualify  a  Catholic  from  being  so  elected ;  and  that 
whether  O'Connell  would  or  would  not  refuse  to  take  the  oaths,  to  which  he 
objected,  could  not  be  ascertained  until  his  appearance  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons. So,  he  was  declared  member,  and  his  first  frank  was  on  a  letter  com- 
municating the  intelligence  to  his  wife.  He  exercised  the  privilege  of  frank- 
ing (abolished  by  the  penny-postage  act  in  1840)  from  the  day  of  his  election 
until  the  time  after  the  Catholic  Relief  Bill  was  passed,  when  he  was  not  allowed 
to  take  Ids  seat  without  taking  the  old  oaths,  which  he  refused  to  do.  —  M. 


268  CLAEE   ELECTION. 

ground  with  an  O'Trigger  eye,  and  by  a  glance  over  "  the  fif- 
teen acres,"  is  able  to  select,  witli  an  instantaneous  accuracy, 
the  finest  position  for  the  settlement  of  a  quarrel.*  In  his  cal- 
culation of  distances,  he  displays  a  peculiarly  scientific  genius ; 
and,  whether  it  be  expedient  to  bring  doAvn  your  antagonist 
at  a  long  shot,  or  at  a  more  embarrassed  interval  of  feet,  you 
may  be  sure  of  the  Major's  loading  to  a  grain.  In  the  county 
of  Clare  he  does  not  merely  enact  the  part  of  a  sovereign.  He 
is  the  chief  of  the  clan  of  the  M'Namaras,  and  after  rehearsing 
the  royal  character  at  Kildare  street,  the  moment  he  arrives 
on  the  coast  of  Clare,  and  visits  the  oyster-beds  at  Poldoody,t 
becomes  "  every  inch  a  king."  He  possesses  great  influence 
with  the  people,  which  is  founded  upon  far  better  grounds  than 
their  hereditary  reverence  for  the  Milesian  nobility  of  Ireland. 
He  is  a  most  excellent  magistrate.  If  a  gentleman  should  en- 
deavor to  crush  a  poor  peasant,  Major  M'Namara  is  ready  to 
protect  him,  not  only  with  the  powers  of  his  office,  but  at  the 
risk  of  liis  life.  This  creditable  solicitude  for  the  rights  and 
the  interests  of  the  lower  orders  had  rendered  him  most  de- 
servedly popular;  and,  in  naming  him  as  their  representative, 
the  Association  could  not  have  made  a  more  judicious  choice.^ 
He  was  publicly  called  upon  to  stand. 

Some  days  elapsed,  and  no  answer  was  returned  by  the  Ma- 
jor. The  public  mind  was  thrown  into  suspense,  and  various 
conjectures  went  abroad  as  to  the  cause  of  this  singular  oniis- 
sion.  Some  alleged  that  he  was  gone  to  an  island  off  the  coast 
of  Clare,  where  the  proceedings  of  the  Association  had  not 
reached  him ;  while  others  suggested  that  he  was  only  waiting 
until  the  clergy  of  the  county  should  declare  themselves  more 

*  In  Phoenix  Park,  the  suburban  residence  of  the  Lord-Lieutenant,  a  par- 
ticular part,  called  "The  Fifteen  Acres,"  was  noted  as  the  place  wheie  the 
Dublin  duellists  generally  had  their  little  "  aifairs  of  honor."  Duelling  is  nearly 
extinct  in  Ireland  now.  —  M. 

t  The  Poldoody  and  Carlingford  oysters  were  as  popular  in  Ireland  as  the 
Colchester  and  Milton  in  London,  or  the  Shrewsbury  and  East  River  in  New 
York.  — M. 

X  Major  M'Namara,  who  was  O'Connell's  second  in  the  duel  with  D'Esten^e, 
in  1815,  was  returned  to  Parliament,  by  his  Clare  neighbors,  after  Catholic 
Emancipation  was  obtained,  and  usually  voted  with  O'Connell.  He  died  much 
respected  by  all  parties,  but  was  a  very  commonplace  man.  —  M. 


THE    RIVAL    PRIESTHOOD.  269 

unequivocally  favorable  to  him.  The  latter,  it  was  said,  had 
evinced  much  apathy  ;  and  it  was  rumored  that  Dean  O'Shaugh- 
nessy,  who  is  a  distant  relative  of  Mr.  Fitzgerald,  had  inti- 
mated a  determination  not  to  support  any  anti-ministerial  can- 
didate. The  Major's  silence,  and  the  doubts  which  were  enter- 
tained with  regard  to  the  allegiance  of  the  priests,  created  a 
sort  of  panic  at  the  Association.  A  meeting  was  called,  and 
various  opinions  were  delivered  as  to  the  propriety  of  engaging 
in  a  contest,  the  issue  of  which  was  considered  exceedingly 
doubtful,  and  in  which  failure  would  be  attended  with  such 
disastrous  consequences.  Mr.  O'Oonnell  himself  did  not  ap- 
pear exceedingly  sanguine;  and  Mr.  Purcell  O'Gorman,  a  na- 
tive of  Clare,  and  who  had  a  minute  knowledge  of  the  feelings 
of  the  people,  expressed  apprehensions. 

There  were,  however,  two  gentlemen  (Mr.  O'Gorman  Mahon 
and  Mr.  Steele),  who  strongly  insisted  that  the  people  might 
be  roused,  and  that  the  priests  were  not  as  lukewarm  as  was 
imagined.  Upon  the  zeal  of  Dean  O'Shaughnessy,  however, 
a  good  deal  of  question  was  thrown.  By  a  singular  coinci- 
dence, just  as  his  name  was  uttered,  a  gentleman  entered,  who, 
but  for  the  peculiar  locality,  might  have  been  readily  mistaken 
for  a  clergyman  of*  the  Established  Church.  Between  the 
priesthood  of  the  two  religions  there  are,  in  aspect  and  de- 
meanor, as  well  as  in  creed  and  discipline,  several  points  of 
affinity,  and  the  abstract  sacerdotal  character  is  readily  per- 
ceptible in  both.  The  parson,  however,  in  his  attitude  and 
attire,  presents  the  evidences  of  superiority,  and  carries  the 
mannerism  of  ascendency  upon  him.  A  broad-brimmed  hat, 
composed  of  the  smoothest  and  blackest  material,  and  drawn 
by  two  silken  threads  into  a  fire-shovel  configuration,  a  felici- 
tous adaptation  of  his  jerkin  to  the  symmetries  of  his  chest  and 
shoulder,  stockings  of  glossy  silk,  which  displayed  the  happy 
proportions  of  a  finely-swelling  leg,  a  ruddy  cheek,  and  a  bright, 
authoritative  eye,  suggested,  at  first  view,  that  the  gentleman 
who  had  entered  the  room  while  the  merits  of  Dean  O'Shauffh- 

o 

nessy  were  under  discussion,  must  be  a  minister  of  the  prosper- 
ous Christianity  of  the  Established  Church.  It  was,  however, 
no  other  than  Dean  O'Shaughnessy  himself. 


270  CLAKE   ELECTION. 

He  was  received  with  a  burst  of  applause,  which  indicated 
that,  whatever  surmises  with  respect  to  his  fidelity  had  previ- 
ously gone  out,  his  appearauce  before  that  tribunal  (for  it  is 
one)  was  considered  by  the  assembly  as  a  proof  of  his  devotion 
to  the  public  interest.  The  Dean,  however,  made  a  very  scho- 
lastic sort  of  oration,  the  gist  of  which  it  was  by  no  means  easy 
to  arrive  at.  He  denied  that  he  had  enlisted  himself  under 
Mr.  Fitzgerald's  banners,  but  at  the  same  time  studiously 
avoided  giving  any  sort  of  pledge.  He  did  not  state  distinctly 
what  his  opinion  was  with  respect  to  the  co-operation  of  the 
priests  with  the  Association  ;  and,  when  he  was  pressed,  begged 
to  be  allowed  to  withhold  his  sentiments  on  the  subject.  The 
Association  were  not,  however,  dismayed ;  and  it  having  been 
conjectured  that  the  chief  reason  for  Major  M'Namara  having 
omitted  to  return  an  answer  was  connected  with  pecuniary  con- 
siderations, it  was  decided  that  so  large  a  sum  as  five  thousand 
pounds  of  the  Catholic  rent  should  be  allocated  to  the  expenses 
of  his  election. 

Mr.  O'Gorman  Mahon  and  Mr.  Steele  were  directed  to  pro- 
ceed at  once  to  Clare,  in  order  that  they  might  have  a  personal 
interview  with  him  ;  and  they  immediately  set  ofi".  After  an 
absence  of  two  days,  Mr.  O'Gorman  Mahon  returned,  having 
left  his  colleague  behind  in  order  to  arouse  the  people ;  and  he 
at  length  conveyed  certain  intelligence  with  respect  to  the 
Major's  determination.  The  obligations  under  which  his  fam- 
ily lay  to  Mr.  Fitzgerald  were  such,  that  he  was  bound  in 
honor  not  to  oppose  him.  This  information  produced  a  feeling 
of  deep  disappointment  among  the  Catholic  body,  while  the 
Protestant  party  exulted  in  his  apparent  desertion  of  the  cause, 
and  boasted  that  no  gentleman  of  the  county  would  stoop  so 
low  as  to  accept  of  the  patronage  of  the  Association.  In  this 
emergency,  and  when  it  was  universally  regarded  as  an  utterly 
hopeless  attempt  to  oppose  the  Cabinet  Minister,  the  public 
were  astonished  by  an  address  from  Mr.  O'Connell  to  the  free- 
holders of  Clare,  in  which  he  offered  himself  as  a  candidate, 
and  solicited  their  support. 

Nothing  but  his  subsequent  success  could  exceed  the  sensa- 
tion which  was  produced  by  this  address,  and  all  eyes  were 


VESEY   FITZGERALD.  371 

turned  toward  the  field  in  which  so  remarkable  a  contest  was 
to  be  waged.  The  two  candidates  entered  the  lists  with  sig- 
nal advantages  upon  both  sides.  Mr.  O'Connell  had  an  un- 
paralleled popularity,  which  the  services  of  thirty  years  had 
secured  to  him.  Upon  the  other  hand,  Mr.  Vesey  Fitzgerald 
presented  a  combination  of  favorable  circumstances,  which 
rendered  the  issue  exceedingly  difficult  to  calculate.*  His 
father  had  held  the  office  of  Prime  Sergeant  at  the  Irish  Bar; 
and,  although  indebted  to  the  Government  for  his  promotion, 
had  the  virtuous  intrepidity  to  vote  against  the  Union.  This 
example  of  independence  had  rendered  him  a  great  favorite 
with  the  people.  From  the  moment  that  his  son  had  obtained 
access  to  power,  he  had  employed  his  extensive  influence  in 
doing  acts  of  kindness  to  the  gentry  of  the  County  of  Clare. 
He  had  inundated  it  with  the  overflowings  of  ministerial 
bounty.  The  eldest  sons  of  the  poorer  gentlemen,  and  the 
younger  branches  of  the  aristocracy,  had  been  provided  for 
through  his  means ;  and  in  the  army,  the  navy,  the  treasury, 
the  Four  Courts,  and  the  Customhouse,  the  proofs  of  his  politi- 
cal friendship  w^re  everywhere  to  be  found. 

William  Vesey  Fitzgerald  was  the  son  of  James  Fitzg-erald,  once  Prime 
Sergeant  of  Ireland,  and  Catheiine  Vesey,  a  rich  co-heiress.  James  Fitzgerald 
who  had  held  several  high  offices  in  Ireland,  opposed  the  contemplated  Legis- 
lative Union  with  Great  Britain,  and  threw  up  his  rank  of  Piime  Sergeant, 
which  placed  him  at  the  head  of  the  legal  profession  in  Ireland,  whence  his 
transition  to  the  judicial  ermine  was  certain.  His  giving  up  place,  for  the  sake 
of  his  countiy,  made  him  extremely  popular.  His  eldest  son  entered  Parlia- 
ment, and  successively  became  Privy  Councillor,  Chancellor  of  the  Irish  Ex- 
chequer, Paymaster  of  the  Forces,  and  President  of  the  Board  of  Trade.  He 
invariably  supported  Catholic  Emancipation,  and  not  the  less  warmly  because 
the  Catholic  leader  defeated  him  at  Clare.  His  mother  was  created  Baroness 
Fitzgerald  and  Vesci,  in  1827.  On  her  death,  in  1832,  Vesey  Fitzgerald  suc- 
ceeded to  this  title,  as  her  eldest  son.  In  January,  1835,  his  father  went  to  his 
long  and  last  resting-place,  aged  93.  In  the  same  year,  his  son  received  an 
English,  in  addition  to  his  Irish  barony,  and  became  a  Peer  of  the  United  King- 
dom. When  he  died  in  1843  (as  Lord  Fitzgerald  and  Vesci)  he  was  Lord 
Lieutenant  of  Clare.  He  was,  in  all  respects,  an  accomplished  gentleman,  an 
elegant  if  not  eloquent  speaker,  a  tried  fi-iend  of  the  Catholics,  aad  an  excel- 
lent man  of  business.  At  the  Clare  Election,  in  1828,  his  good  temper,  tiiie 
courtesy,  and  undoiibted  amiability,  won  him  "  heaps  of  friends"  even  among 
the  very  men  who  voted  against  him.  Mr.  Sheil,  in  writing  of  him,  involunta- 
rily shows  how  greatly,  while  he  opposed,  ho  estimated  him. —  M. 


272  CLARE   ELECriON. 

Independently  of  any  act  of  his  which  could  be  referred  to 
his  personal  interest,  and  his  anxiety  to  keep  up  his  influence 
in  the  county,  Mr.  Fitzgerald,  who  is  a  man  of  very  amiable 
disposition,  had  conferred  many  services  upon  his  Clare  ac- 
quaintances. Nor  was  it  to  Protestants  that  these  manifesta- 
tions of  favor  were  confined.  He  had  laid  not  only  the  Cath- 
olic proprietors,  but  the  Catholic  priesthood,  under  obligation. 
The  Bishop  of  the  diocese  himself  (a  respectable  old  gentle- 
man who  drives  about  in  a  gig  with  a  mitre  upon  it)  is  sup- 
posed not  to  have  escaped  from  his  bounties ;  and  it  is  more 
than  insinuated  that  some  droppings  of  ministerial  manna  had 
fallen  upon  him.  The  consequence  of  this  systematized  and 
uniform  plan  of  benefaction  is  obvious.  The  sense  of  obliga- 
tion was  heightened  by  the  manners  of  this  extensive  distrib- 
uter of  the  favors  of  the  Crown,  and  converted  the  ordinary 
feeling  of  thankfulness  into  one  of  personal  regard.  To  this 
array  of  very  favorable  circumstances,  Mr.  Fitzgerald  brought 
the  additional  influence  Avhich  arose  from  his  recent  promotion 
to  the  Cabinet ;  which,  to  those  who  had  former  benefits  to 
return,  afforded  an  opportunity  for  the  exercise  of  that  kind  of 
prospective  gratitude  which  has  been  described  to  consist  of  a 
lively  sense  of  services  to  come.  These  were  the  comparative 
advantages  with  which  the  ministerial  and  the  popular  candi- 
date engaged  in  this  celebrated  contest ;  and  Ireland  stood  by 
to  witness  the  encounter. 

Mr.  O'Connell  did  not  immediately  set  off  from  Dublin  ;  but, 
"before  his  departure,  several  gentlemen  were  despatched  from 
the  Association  in  order  to  excite  the  minds  of  the  people,  and 
to  prepare  the  way  for  him.  The  most  active  and  useful  of 
the  persons  who  were  employed  upon  this  occasion  were  the 
two  gentlemen  to  whom  I  have  already  referred,  Mr.  Steele 
and  Mr.  O'Gorman.  They  are  both  desei-ving  of  special  com- 
mendation. The  former  is  a  Protestant  of  a  respectable  for- 
tune in  the  County  of  Clare,*  and  who  has  all  his  life  been 

**  The  late  "  Tom  Steele,"  as  he  was  familiarly  called,  is  supposed  not  to 
have  had  an  enemy  in  the  world.  He  was  bom  November  3,  l788,  and  was  a 
member  of  a  Protestant  family  in  Clare,  where  he  succeeded  to  considerable 
landed  property.     He  was  a  graduate  of  the  Universities  of  Dublin  and  Cam- 


THOMAS    STEELE.  2Y3 

devoted  to  the  assertion  of  liberal  principles.  In  Trinity  Col- 
lege, he  was  among  the  foremost  of  the  advocates  of  emanci- 
pation, and  at  that  early  period  became  the  intimate  associate 
of  many  Roman  Catholic  gentlemen  who  have  since   distin- 

bridge  and  distinguished  himself  at  both;  a  member  of  the  London  Institution 
of  Civil  Engineers  (admitted  for  his  improvements  in  diving  machinery  anc" 
sub-marine  illumination)  ;  one  of  the  defenders  of  Cadiz,  in  1823,  under  the 
command  of  Sir  Robert  Wilson ;  seconded  O'Connell's  nomination  at  Clare 
election  in  1828;  v^as  an  original  member  of  Birmingham  Political  Union 
from  its  formation  in  1830,  and  thus  an  instrument  of  the  Grey  Ministry  in  car- 
rying the  Reform  Bill ;  threw  himself,  with  intense  earnestness,  into  the  Eman- 
cipation anti-tithe,  and  Repeal  movements;  was  O'Connell's  Head  Pacificator 
and  Repeal  Warden-in-Chief  for  all  Ireland ;  took  part  in  the  Monster  Meet- 
ings of  1843  ;  was  tried  and  convicted,  with  O'Connell  and  the  other  repealers,  in 
1844 ;  suffered  the  like  imprisonment  with  them,  which  was  subsequently  declared 
by  the  House  of  Lords  to  be  illegal ;  and  died  in  June,  1848,  at  Peele's  Coffee- 
House,  in  London,  in  such  extreme  want,  that  he  would  have  starved  but  for 
the  humanity  of  the  landlord,  who  kindly  allowed  him  to  want  for  nothing 
Bitter  necessity  had  broken  his  heart,  and  driven  him  to  despair.  His  las? 
moments  were  soothed  by  the  sympathy,  bounty,  and  personal  kindness  of  Lor^ 
Brougham  and  Colonel  Perceval  (the  Orangeman)  with  both  of  whom,  as  pub- 
lic men,  he  had  waged  political  strife.  How  his  fortune  went  it  is  hard  to  say. . 
His  personal  expenditure  was  small.  He  disbursed  a  good  deal  in  scientific 
investigations,  and  also  in  attempting  to  improve  the  navigation  of  the  Shan- 
lion  at  his  own  expense  —  his  plan  has  since  been  successfully  carried  out  by  a 
Parliamentary  gi-ant.  In  the  State  Trials  of  1844,  when  he  was  very  restless 
and  talkative,  interrupting  the  proceedings,  Mr.  Smith,  then  Attorney-General, 
turned  round  and  said,  "  Steele,  if  you  do  not  keep  quiet,  I  shall  certainly  strike 
your  name  out  of  the  indictment."  This  threat  of  depriving  him  of  the  honors 
of  political  persecution  and  martyrdom,  immediately  silenced  Tom  Steele  !  He 
was  a  tall,  muscular,  well-built  man,  who  an-ayed  himself  in  a  military  blue  frock, 
with  the  Repeal  button.  His  face  was  full  of  amiability  and  honesty.  He 
spoke  more  earnestly  than  eloquently.  He  was  one  of  the  most  sincere  and 
least  selfish  of  public  men.  He  had  not  room  in  his  heart  for  one  ungenerous 
or  unmanly  feeling.  He  loved  O'Connell  with  a  love  almost  passing  that  of 
^oman.  Ireland  ought  not  to  have  allowed  Tom  Steele  to  die,  almost  a 
pauper,  in  a  foreign  land.  His  departure  from  life  should  have  been  in  the 
country   he  would  have  died  to  serve,  amid  "  ti-oops  of  friends,"  and  not  to  be 

"  By  strangers  honored,  and  by  strangers  mourned." 
I  remember  when  his  death  (and  its  manner)  was  communicated  to  the  Lon- 
doners, how  men  whom  I  had  always  considered  apathetic,  met  me  in  the 
street,  pressed  my  hand,  which  had  often  been  grasped  in  his,  and  said,  in  bro- 
ken accents,  and  with  moistened  eyes,  "  Poor  Tom  Steele."  The  chivalry  oi 
his  character  and  conduct  had  smitten  the  rock,  and  the  fountain  of  feeling 
gushed  forth,  when  his  gallant  life  had  passed  away. —  M. 

12* 


274  CLARE   ELECTION. 

gnished  themselves  in  the  proceedings  of  their  body.  Being  a 
man  of  independent  circumstances,  Mr.  Steele  did  not  devote 
himself  to  any  profession,  and  having  a  zealous  and  active 
mind,  he  looked  round  for  occupation.  The  Spanish  war 
afforded  him  a  field  for  the  display  of  that  generous  enthusiasm 
by  which  he  is  distinguished.  He  joined  the  patriot  army, 
and  fought  with  a  desperate  valor  upon  the  batteries  of  the 
Trocadero.  It  was  only  when  Cadiz  had  surrendered,  and 
the  cause  of  Spain  became  utterly  hopeless,  that  Mr.  Steele 
relinquished  this  noble  undertaking.  He  returned  to  England, 
surrounded  by  exiles  from  the  unfortunate  country  for  the 
liberation  of  which  he  had  repeatedly  exposed  his  life.  It 
was  impossible  for  a  man  of  so  much  energy  of  character  to 
remain  in  torpor ;  and  on  his  arrival  in  Ireland,  faithful  to  the 
principles  by  which  he  had  been  uniformly  swayed,  he  joined 
the  Catholic  Association.  There  he  delivered  several  power- 
ful and  enthusiastic  declamations  in  favor  of  religious  liberty. 
Such  a  man,  however,  was  fitted  for  action  as  well  as  for 
harangue ;  and  the  moment  the  contest  in  Clare  began,  he 
threw  himself  into  the  combat  with  the  same  alacrity  with 
which  he  had  rushed  upon  the  French  bayonets  at  Cadiz. 
He  was  serviceable  in  various  ways.  He  opened  the  political 
campaign  by  intimating  his  readiness  to  fight  any  landlord  who 
should  conceive  himself  to  be  aggrieved  by  an  interference 
with  his  tenants.  This  was  a  very  impressive  exordium.  He 
then  proceeded  to  canvass  for  votes;  and,  assisted  by  his 
intimate  friend  Mr.  O'Gorman  Mahon,  travelled  through  the 
country,  and,  by  both  day  and  night,  addressed  the  people 
from  the  altars  round  which  they  were  assembled  to  hear  him. 
It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say,  that  to  him,  and  to  his  intrepid 
and  indefatigable  confederate,  the  success  of  Mr.  O'Connell 
is  greatly  to  be  ascribed. 

Mr,  O'Gorman  Mahon  is  introduced  into  this  article  as  one 
among  many  figures.  He  would  deserve  to  stand  apart  in  a 
portrait.*     Nature  has  been  peculiarly  favorable  to  him.     He 

*  James  O'Gorman  Mahon  subsequently  entered  Parliament,  and  made  some 
good  speeches  on  popular  subjects.  He  was  declared  unseated  for  want  of 
property  qualification  (three  hundred  pounds  sterling  for  a  borough,  and  five 


MR.  o'goeman  mahon.  275 

has  a  very  striking  physiognomy,  of  the  Corsair  character, 
which  the  Protestant  Guhiares,  and  the  Catholic  Medoras,  find 
it  equally  difficult  to  resist.  His  figure  is  tall,  and  he  is  pecu- 
liarly free  and  degage  in  all  his  attitudes  and  movements.  In 
any  other  his  attire  would  appear  singularly  fantastical.  His 
manners  are  exceedingly  frank  and  natural,  and  have  a  char- 
acter of  kindliness  as  well  as  of  self-reliance  imprinted  upon 
them.  He  is  wholly  free  from  embarrassment  and  mauvaise 
honte,  and  carries  a  well-founded  consciousness  of  his  personal 
merit ;  which  is,  however,  so  well  united  with  urbanity,  that 
it  is  not  in  the  slightest  degree  offensive.  His  talents  as  a 
popular  speaker  are  considerable.  He  derives  from  external 
qualifications  an  influence  over  the  multitude,  which  men  of 
diminutive  stature  are  somewhat  slow  of  obtaining.  A  little 
man  is  at  first  view  regarded  by  the  great  body  of  spectators 
with  disrelish ;  and  it  is  only  by  force  of  phrase,  and  by  the 
charm  of  speech,  that  he  can  at  length  succeed  in  inducing 
his  auditors  to  overlook  any  infelicity  of  configuration ;  but 
w^hen  O'Gorman  Mahon  throws  himself  out  before  the  people, 
and,  touching  his  whiskers  with  one  hand,  brandishes  the 
other,  an  enthusiasm  is  at  once  produced,  to  which  the  fair 
portion  of  the  spectators  lend  their  tender  contribution.  Such 
a  man  was  exactly  adapted  to  the  excitement  of  the  people  of 
Clare ;  and  it  must  be  admitted,  that  by  his  indefatigable 
exertions,  his  unremitting  activity,  and  his  devoted  zeal,  he 
most  materially  assisted  in  the  election  of  Mr.  O'Connell, 

While  Mr.  Steele  and  Mr.  O'Gorman  Mahon  harangued  the 
people  in  one  district,  Mr.  Lawless,  who  was  also  despatched 
upon  a  similar  mission,  applied  his  faculties  of  excitation  in 
another.  This  gentleman  has  obtained  deserved  celebrity  by 
his  being  almost  the  only  individual  among  the  Irish  deputies 
who  remonstrated  against  the  sacrifice  of  the  rights  of  the 
forty-shilling  freeholders.  Ever  since  that  period  he  has  been 
eminently  popular;    and  although  he  may   occasionally,  by 

hundred  pounds  a  year  for  a  county  member)  and  abandoned  public  life  for  a 
considerable  time.  He  again  entered  Parliament,  in  1847,  but  was  not  re- 
elected in  1852  He  was  a  remarkably  handsome  man,  in  1828 ;  and  dressed 
in  a  showv  manner, —  M. 


276  CLARE   ELECTION. 

ebullitions  of  ill-regulated  but  generous  enthusiasm,  create  a 
little  merriment  among  those  whose  minds  are  not  as  suscep- 
tible of  patriotic  and  disinterested  emotion  as  his  own,  yet  the 
conviction  which  is  entertained  of  his  honesty  of  purpose,  con- 
fers upon  him  a  considerable  influence.  "  Honest  Jack  Law- 
less" is  the  designation  by  which  he  has  been  known  since  the 
"  wings"  were  in   discussion  *     He  has  many  distinguished 

*  To  have  been  called  ^''Honest  Jack  Lawless,"  and  to  have  merited  the 
name,  must  be  considered  a  great  distinction.  John  Lawless  originally  studied 
for  the  L-ish  bar,  but  his  friendship  for,  and  presumed  connection  with  Robert 
Emmett,  in  1803,  caused  Lord  Clare  to  reject  his  application  for  admission. 
Lawless,  who  was  full  of  energy,  bore  this  with  great  philosophy,  and,  relin- 
quishing law  and  precedents  for  malt  and  hops,  next  became  partner  in  a  brew 
ery  at  Dublin.  After  this,  he  yielded  to  his  political  and  literary  tastes,  and  be 
came  editor  of  a  newspaper  in  Newiy,  where  he  obtained  so  high  a  reputation 
for  the  touch-and-go  talent  which  makes  alike  a  light  comedian  and  a  "  gentleman 
of  the  press,"  that  he  was  invited  to  Belfast,  where  he  established  and  conducted 
an  excellent  journal  called  "  The  Irishman,"  When  the  Catholic  Associa- 
tion was  founded,  John  Lawless  became  an  early  and  eager  member.  In  1825, 
he  opposed  O'Connell  on  "  The  Wings."  O'Connell's  chief  notice  (though 
the  opposition  annoyed  him)  was  a  complaint  of  "  the  under-growl  of  Jack 
Lawless."  After  this,  they  soon  were  reconciled  —  a  hollow  truce,  for,  in  1832, 
when  Lawless  was  defeated  in  a  contest  for  the  Parliamentaiy  representation 
of  Meath  County,  he*was  charged  by  O'Connell  with  having,  "  for  a  con-si-de- 
ra-ti-on"  (as  old  Trapbois  says),  sold  his  chances  of  being  elected.  Judging 
from  every  one  of  Lawless's  political  and  personal  antecedents,  this  charge 
was  unfounded.  Mr.  Lawless  died  in  August,  1837. — It  may  be  necessary  to 
state  that  "  The  Wings"  (to  which  Mr.  Lawless  and  several  other  patriotic 
Irishmen  were  so  much  opposed,  as  then  to  endanger  the  popularity  of  Mr. 
O'Connell,  who  certainly  did  not  resist  them),  were  di-awbacks  with  which 
Catholic  Emancipation  was  to  have  been  clogged,  if  the  Bill  brought  in,  by  Sir 
Francis  Burdett,  in  1825,  had  passed  into  a  law.  They  were  embod- 
ied in  a  separate  Bill,  which  passed  through  several  stages,  but  was  necessarily 
abandoned,  when,  mainly  influenced  by  the  Duke  of  York's  "  So  help  me  God" 
speech,  the  House  of  Lords  rejected  Burdett's  bill,  and  thus  deferred  Emanci- 
pation until  1829.  By  one  "wing"  the  forty  shilling  freehold  qualification,  to 
vote  at  Pai'liamentaiy  elections,  would  have  been  abolished,  and  no  one  allowed 
to  vote,  in  counties,  on  less  than  a  freehold  often  pounds  sterling  annual  value. 
By  the  other  "  wing,"  the  entire  Catholic  clergy  of  Ireland,  then  estimated  at 
two  thousanrl,  who  were  paid  by  the  people,  were  to  be  paid  by  the  Govern- 
ment, at  a  cost  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  pounds  sterling  a  year,  out 
of  the  public  money.  The  matter  for  wonder  is  that  any  Catholic,  who  com- 
plained of  being  called  upon  to  pay,  in  tithes,  for  the  maintenance  of  clergy- 
men of  another  faith,  could  not  have  perceived  the  anomaly  of  allowing  hi? 


MR.    LAWLESS.  277 

qualifications  as  a  public  speaker.  His  voice  is  deep,  round, 
and  melloAV,  and  is  diversified  by  a  great  variety  of  rich  and 
liarmonious  intonation.  His  action  is  exceedingly  graceful  and 
appropriate  :  he  has  a  good  figure,  which,  by  a  purposed  swell 
and  dilation  of  the  shoulders,  and  an  elaborate  erectness,  he 
turns  to  good  account ;  and  by  dint  of  an  easy  fluency  of  good 
diction,  a  solemn  visage,  an  aquiline  nose  of  no  vulgar  dimen- 
sion, eyes  glaring  underneath  a  shaggy  brow  with  a  certain 
fierceness  of  emotion,  a  quizzing-glass,  which  is  gracefully 
dangled  in  any  pauses  of  thought  or  suspensions  of  utterance, 
and,  above  all,  by  a  certain  attitude  of  dignity,  which  he 
assumes  in  the  crisis  of  eloquence,  accompanied  with  a  flinging 
back  of  his  coat,  which  sets  his  periods  beautifully  off,  "  Hon- 
est Jack"  has  become  one  of  the  most  popular  and  efiicient 
speakers  at  the  Association. 

Shortly  after  Mr.  Lawless  had  been  despatched,  a  great  rein- 
forcement to  the  oratorical  corps  was  sent  down  in  the  person 
of  the  celebrated  Father  Maguire,  or,  as  he  is  habitually 
designated,  "  Father  Tom."  This  gentleman  had  been  for 
some  time  a  parish  priest  in  the  county  of  Leitrim.  He  lived 
in  a  remote  parish,  where  his  talents  were  unappreciated. 
Some  accident  brought  Mr.  Pope,  the  itinerant  controversialist, 
into  contact  with  him.  A  challenge  to  defend  the  doctrines  of 
his  religion  was  tendered  by  the  wandering  disputant  to  the 
priest,  and  the  latter  at  once  accepted  it.  Maguire  had  given 
no  previous  proof  of  his  abilities,  and  the  Catholic  body  re- 
gretted the  encounter.  The  parties  met  in  this  strange  duel 
of  theology.  The  interest  created  by  their  encounter  was 
prodigious.  Not  only  the  room  where  their  debates  were 
carried  on  was  crowded,  but  the  whole  of  Sackville  street, 
where  it  was  situated,  was  thronged  with  population.  Pope 
brought  to  the  combat  great  fluency,  and  a  powerful  declama- 
tion. Maguire  was  a  master  of  scholastic  logic.  After  several 
days  of  controversy.  Pope  was  overthrown,  and  "Father  Tom," 

own  clergy  to  be  paid  by  taxes,  levied  on  all  other  creeds.  For  tlie  promised 
two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  pounds  was  a  small  sum  compared  with  tlie 
millions  wrung  out  of  the  Catholics  by  the  Protestant  hierarchy  and  inferior 
clergy. —  M.  -  "'^w. 


278  CT.ARR    ELKCTTON. 

as  the  champion  of  ortliodoxy,  becnme  the  object  of  popular 
adoration.  A  base  conspiracy  was  got  np  to  destroy  his  moral 
character,  and  by  its  failure  raised  him  in  the  affection  of  the 
multitude.  He  had  been  under  great  obligations  to  Mr.  O'Oon- 
nell,  for  his  exertions  upon  his  trial ;  and  from  a  just  sentiment 
of  gratitude,  he  tendered  his  services  in  Clare.  His  name 
alone  was  of  great  value ;  and  when  his  coming  was  an- 
nounced, the  people  everywhere  rushed  forward  to  hail  the 
great  vindicator  of  the  national  religion.*  He  threw  fresh 
ingredients  into  the  caldron,  and  contributed  to  impart  to  the 
contest  that  strong  religious  character  which  it  is  not  the  fault 
of  the  Association,  but  of  the  Government,  that  every  contest 
of  the  kind  must  assume. 

*  The  Reverend  Thomas  Maguire  was  an  Irish  Catholic  priest,  a  dialectician 
of  great  power  and  ingenuity,  who,  shortly  before  the  election-struggle  in  Clare, 
had  greatly  distinguished  himself,  in  a  public  and  prolonged  discussion  with 
the  Reverend  Mr.  Pope,  a  Protestant  clergj-man.  Mr.  Maguire,  who  accepted 
his  challenge,  was  scarcely  known  even  among  his  own  persuasion,  and  many 
apprehended  defeat,  not  from  any  weakness  of  his  cause,  but  from  a  belief  that 
its  champion,  unknown  and  untried,  was  unequally  opposed  to  a  practised 
polemic.  The  discussion,  which  took  place  in  Dublin,  excited  much  interest 
in  the  religious  world.  Each  conti'oversialist  had  to  defend  three  articles  of 
his  own  and  to  assail  as  many  of  his  adversary's  faith.  To  the  surprise  of  all, 
Mr.  Maguire  proved  equal,  at  least,  to  his  more  practised  opponent.  As  usual, 
both  parties  claimed  the  honor  of  the  victory  —  at  all  events,  Mi\  Maguire  was 
admitted  to  have  most  distinguished  himself.  It  is  pleasant  to  add,  that  a  waiTa 
and  mutual  regard  between  Mr.  Maguire  and  Mr.  Pope  sprang  out  of  this  con- 
troversy. The  Orange  party  in  Ireland,  shortly  after  this  discussion,  did  not 
discourage,  if  they  did  not  assist,  a  conspiracy  which  was  got  up  to  destroy 
Mr.  Maguire's  private  and  clerical  character.  An  action  at  law  was  brought 
by  a  person  named  M'Gerratty,  to  recover  damages  for  the  seduction  of  his 
daughter  Ann,  by  the  Reverend  Thomas  Maguire.  The  young  woman  was 
examined  on  the  ti'ial,  and  swore,  among  other  things,  that  Mr.  Maguire  had 
seduced  her  under  a  promise  of  marriage,  to  be  fulfilled  on  his  becoming  a  Prot- 
estant clergyman  !  The  jury,  coupling  this  improbability  with  serious  discrep- 
ancies in  her  evidence  as  to  the  subject-matter  of  the  suit,  with  her  demeanor 
in  the  witness-box,  and  with  strong  testimony  of  her  previous  bad  character, 
acquitted  Mr.  Maguire,  without  hesitation.  For  the  remaining  twenty  years  of 
his  life,  he  was  undisturbed  by  slander.  He  was  a  popular  preacher,  and  was 
often  called  upon  to  plead  in  aid  of  the  sacred  cause  of  charity.  He  died 
suddenly,  and  it  was  suspected  that  he  was  poisoned  by  two  of  his  own  servants, 
who  desired  to  appropriate  t  themselves  whatever  portable  property  he  wa« 
possessed  of. —  M. 


FATHER  TOM  MAGUIRE.  279 

"Father  Tom"  was  employed  upon  a  remarkable  exploit. 
Mr.  Augustine  Butler,  the  lineal  descendant  of  the  famous  Sir 
Toby  Butler,  is  a  proprietor  in  Clare  :  he  is  a  liberal  Protest- 
ant, but  supported  Mr.  Vesey  Fitzgerald.  "  Father  Tom" 
proceeded  from  the  town  of  Ennis  to  the  county  chapel  where 
Mr.  Butler's  freeholders  were  assembled,  in  order  to  address 
them ;  and  Mr.  Butler,  with  an  intrepidity  which  did  him 
credit,  went  forward  to  meet  him.  It  was  a  singular  encounter 
in  the  house  of  God.  The  Protestant  landlord  called  upon  his 
freeholders  not  to  desert  him.  "  Father  Tom"  rose  to  address 
them  in  behalf  of  Mr.  O'Oonnell.  He  is  not  greatly  gifted 
with  a  command  of  decorated  phraseology ;  but  he  is  master 
of  vigorous  language,  and  has  a  power  of  strong  and  simple 
reasoning,  which  is  equally  intelligible  to  all  classes.  He 
employs  the  syllogism  of  the  schools  as  his  chief  weapon  in 
argument ;  but  uses  it  with  such  dexterity,  that  his  auditors  of 
the  humblest  class  can  follow  him  without  being  aware  of  the 
technical  expedient  of  logic  by  which  he  masters  the  under- 
standing. His  manner  is  peculiar :  it  is  not  flowery,  nor  de- 
clamatory, but  is  short,  somewhat  abrupt,  and,  to  use  the 
French  phrase,  is  tranchant.  His  countenance  is  adapted  to 
his  mind,  and  is  expressive  of  the  reasoning  and  controversial^ 
faculties.  A  quick  blue  eye,  a  nose  slightly  turned  up,  and 
formed  for  the  tossing  off  of  an  argument,  a  strong  brow,  a 
complexion  of  mountain  ruddiness,  ahd  thick  lips,  which  are 
better  formed  for  rude  disdain  than  for  polished  sarcasm,  are 
his  characteristics.  He  assailed  Mr.  Butler  with  all  his  powers, 
and  overthrew  him.  The  topic  to  which  he  addressed  himself, 
was  one  which  was  not  only  calculated  to  move  the  tenants  of 
Mr.  Butler,  but  to  stir  Mr.  Butler  himself.  He  appealed  to  the 
memory  of  his  celebrated  Catholic  ancestor,  of  which  Mr. 
Butler  is  justly  proud.  He  stated,  that  what  Sir  Toby  Butler 
had  been,  Mr.  O'Connell  was;  and  he  abjured  him  not  to  stand 
up  in  opposition  to  an  individual,  whom  he  was  bound  to  sus- 
tain by  a  sort  of  hereditary  obligation.  His  appeal  carried  the 
freeholders  away,  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  votes  were  se- 
cured to  Mr.  O'Connell.  Mr.  Maguire  was  seconded  in  this 
achievement  by  Mr.  Dominick  Ronayne,  a  barrister  of  the 


280  CLA.EE    ELECTION. 

Association,  of  considerable  talents,  and  who  not  only  speaks 
the  English  language  with  eloquence,  but  is  master  of  the  Irish 
tongue;*  and,  throwing  an  educated  mind  into  the  powerful 
idiom  of  the  country,  wrought  with  uncommon  power  upon  the 
passions  of  the  people. 

Mr.  Sheil  was  employed  as  counsel  for  Mr.  O'Connell  before 
the  assessor ;  but  proceeded  to  the  county  of  Clare  the  day 
before  the  election  commenced.  On  his  arrival,  he  understood 
that  an  exertion  was  required  in  the  parish  of  Oorofin,  which 
is  situate  upon  the  estate  of  Sir  Edward  O'Brien,  who  had 
given  all  his  interest  to  Mr.  Vesey  Fitzgerald.  Sir  Edward 
is  the  most  opulent  resident  landlord  in  the  country .f  In  the 
parish  of  Oorofin  he  had  no  less  than  three  hundred  votes  ;  and 
it  was  supposed  that  his  freeholders  would  go  with  him.  Mr. 
Sheil  determined  to  assail  him  in  the  citadel  of  his  strength, 
and  proceeded,  upon  the  Sunday  before  the  poll  commenced, 
to  the  chapel  of  Oorofin.  Sir  Edward  O'Brien  having  learned 
that  this  agitator  intended  this  trespass  upon  his  authority, 
resolved  to  anticipate  him,  and  set  off  in  his  splendid  equipage, 
drawn  by  four  horses,  to  the  mountains  in  which  Oorofin  is 
situated.  The  whole  population  came  down  from  their  resi- 
dences in  the  rocks,  which  are  in  the  vicinity  of  the  town  of 

*  The  Irish  are  fond  of  a  joke,  and  O'Connell  often  indulged  them.  In 
1843,  when  the  Monster  Meetings  were  proceeding,  the  Peel  Ministry  sent 
short-hand  writers  to  report  the  speeches  of  O'Connell  and  his  co-agitators. 
On  one  occasion,  seeing  "  the  gentlemen  of  the  press"  assembled  on  the  plat- 
form, ready  to  record  every  Vord  he  uttered,  O'Connell  called  out  to  know 
whether  they  had  eveiy  facility  and  accommodation  necessary.  They  answered, 
tnily,  that  everything  had  been  done  for  their  ease  and  comfort.  It  was  in 
one  of  the  Southern  counties,  whei'e  the  Insh  language  is  spoken  as  often  as  the 
English,  and  O'Connell,  glancing  waggishly  ai'ound,  commenced  a  speech  in 
Irish,  to  the  sui-prise  and  dismay  of  the  "  Saxon"  reporters.  The  multitude 
instantly  entered  into  the  humor  of  the  joke,  and  shouts  of  laughter  mingled 
with  the  usual  applause.  It  was  a  great  triumph  thus  to  have  bajBfled  the  Gov- 
ernment through  its  reporters,  and  was  one  of  the  amusing  episodes  of  a  period 
of  great  personal  and  political  excitement. —  M. 

t  Sir  E.  O'Brien,  of  Drumoland,  County  of  Clare,  was  born  in  1773  and 
died  in  1837.  He  was  succeeded  in  his  title  by  his  eldest  son,  now  Sir  Lucius 
O'Brien.  His  second  son,  William  Smith  O'Brien,  late  M.  P.  for  Ennis,  is 
now  (January,  1854)  in  New  South  Wales,  as  a  transport  for  life,  un  ier  his 
conviction,  on  a  charge  of  high  treason,  in  1848. —  M. 


FATHER    MURPHY.  281 

Ennis,  and  advanced  in  large  bands,  Avaving  green  bonglis, 
and  preceded  by  fifes  and  pipers,  npon  the  road.  Tb^ir  land- 
lord was  met  by  them  on  bis  way.  They  passed  him  by  in 
silence,  while  they  hailed  the  demagogue  with  shouts,  and 
attended  him  in  triumph  to  the  chapel.  Sir  Edward  O'Brien 
lost  his  resolution  at  this  spectacle  ;  and  feeling  that  he  could 
have  no  influence  in  such  a  state  of  excitation,  instead  of  going 
to  the  house  of  Catholic  worship,  proceeded  to  the  church  of 
Oorofin.  He  left  his  carriage  exactly  opposite  the  doors  of  the 
chapel,  which  is  immediately  contiguous,  and  thus  reminded 
the  people  of  his  Protestantism,  by  a  circumstance  of  which, 
of  course,  advantage  was  instantaneously  taken. 

Mr.  Sheil  arrived  with  a  vast  multitude  of  attendants  at  the 
chapel,  which  was  crowded  with  people,  who  had  flocked  from 
all  quarters ;  there  a  singular  scene  took  place.  Father 
Murphy,  the  parish  priest,  came  to  the  entrance  of  the  chapel 
dressed  in  his  surplice.  As  he  came  forth,  the  multitude  fell 
back  at  his  command,  and  arranged  themselves  on  either  side, 
so  as  to -form  a  lane  for  the  reception  of  the  agitator.  Deep 
silence  was  imposed  upon  the  people  by  the  priest,  who  had  a 
voice  like  subterraneous  thunder,  and  appeared  to  hold  them 
in  absolute  dominion.  When  Mr.  Sheil  had  reached  the  thresh- 
old of  the  chapel.  Father  Murphy  stretched  forth  his  hand, 
and  welcomed  him  to  the  performance  of  the  good  work. 

The  figure  and  attitude  of  the  priest  were  remarkable.  My 
English  reader  draws  his  ordinary  notion  of  a  Catholic  clergy- 
man from  the  caricatures  which  are  contained  in  novels,  or 
represented  in  farces  upon  the  stage  ;  but  the  Irish  priest,  who 
has  lately  become  a  politician  and  a  scholar,  has  not  a  touch 
of  foigardism  about  him ;  and  an  artist  would  have  found  in 
Father  Murphy  rather  a  study  for  the  enthusiastic  Macbriar, 
who  is  so  powerfully  delineated  in  "  Old  Mortality,"  than  a 
realization  of  the  familiar  notions  of  a  clergyman  of  the  Church 
of  Rome.  As  he  stood  surrounded  by  a  dense  multitude,  whom 
he  had  hushed  into  profound  silence,  he  presented  a  most  im- 
posing object.  His  form  is  tall,  slender,  and  emaciated ;  but 
was  enveloped  in  his  long  robes,  that  gave  him  a  peculiarly 
sacerdotal  aspect.     The  hand  which  he  stretched  forth  was 


282  CLARE   ELECTION. 

ample,  but  worn  to  a  skinny  meagritudeand  pallor.  His  face 
was  long,  sunken,  and  cadaverous,  but  was  illuminated  by- 
eyes  blazing  with  all  the  fire  of  genius,  the  enthusiasm  of  reli- 
gion, and  the  devotedness  of  patriotism.  His  lank  black  hair 
fell  down  his  temples,  and  ejebrows  of  the  same  color  stretched 
in  thick  straight  lines  along  a  lofty  forehead,  and  threw  over 
the  whole  countenance  a  deep  shadow.  The  sun  was  shining 
with  brilliancy,  and  rendered  his  figure,  attired  as  it  was  in 
white  garments,  more  conspicuous.  The  scenery  about  him 
was  in  harmony ;  it  was  wild  and  desolate,  and  crags,  with 
scarce  a  blade  of  verdure  shooting  through  their  crevices,  rose 
everywhere  around  him.  The  interior  of  the  chapel,  at  the 
entrance  of  which  he  stood,  was  visible.  It  was  a  large  pile 
of  building,  consisting  of  bare  walls,  rudely  thrown  up,  with  a 
floor  of  clay,  and  at  the  extremity  stood  an  altar  made  of  a  few 
boards  clumsily  put  together. 

It  was  on  the  threshold  of  this  mountain-temple  that  the 
envoy  of  the  Association  was  hailed  with  a  solemn  greeting. 
The  priest  proceeded  to  the  altar,  and  commanded  the  people 
to  abstain,  during  the  divine  ceremony,  from  all  political  think- 
ing or  occupation.  He  recited  the  mass  with  great  fervency 
and  simplicity  of  manner,  and  with  all  the  evidences  of  unaf- 
fected piety.  However  familiar,  from  daily  repetition;  with 
the  ritual,  he  pronounced  it  with  a  just  emphasis,  and  went 
through  the  various  forms  which  are  incidental  to  it  with 
singular  propriety  and  grace.  The  people  were  deeply  atten- 
tive, and  it  was  observable  that  most  of  them  could  read ;  for 
they  had  prayer-books  in  their  hands,  which  they  read  with  a 
quiet  devotion.  Mass  being  finished.  Father  Murphy  threw 
his  vestments  off,  and,  without  laying  down  the  priest,  assumed 
the  politician.  He  addressed  the  people  in  Irish,  and  called 
upon  them  to  vote  for  O'Oonnell  in  the  name  of  their  country 
and  of  their  religion. 

It  was  a  most  extraordinary  and  powerful  display  of  the 
externals  of  eloquence ;  and,  as  far  as  a  person  unacquainted 
with  the  language  could  form  an  estimate  of  the  matter  by  the 
effects  produced  upon  the  auditory,  it  must  have  been  pregnant 
with  genuine  oratory.     It  will  be  supposed  that  this  singular 


FATHER   murphy's    IRISH   SPEECH.  283 

priest  addressed  his  parishioners  in  tones  and  gestures  as  rude 
as  the  wild  dialect  to  which  he  was  giving  utterance.  His 
action  and  attitudes  were  as  graceful  as  an  accomplished  actor 
could  use  in  delivering  the  speech  of  Antony,  and  his  intona- 
tions were  soft,  pathetic,  and  denunciatory,  and  conjuring, 
accordingly  as  his  theme  varied,  and  as  he  had  recourse  to  dif- 
ferent expedients  to  influence  the  people.  The  general  char- 
acter of  this  strange  harangue  was  impassioned  and  solemn ; 
but  he  occasionally  had  recourse  to  ridicule,  and  his  counte- 
nance at  once  adapted  itself  with  a  happy  readiness  to  derision. 
The  finest  spirit  of  sarcasm  gleamed  over  his  features,  and 
shouts  of  laughter  attended  his  description  of  a  miserable 
Catholic  who  should  prove  recreant  to  the  great  cause,  by 
making  a  sacrifice  of  his  country  to  his  landlord.  The  close 
of  his  speech  was  peculiarly  effective.  He  became  inflamed 
by  the  power  of  his  emotions ;  and  while  he  raised  himself 
into  the  loftiest  attitude  to  which  he  could  ascend,  he  laid  one 
hand  on  the  altar,  and  shook  the  other  in  the  spirit  of  almost 
prophetic  admonition,  and  as  his  eyes  blazed  and  seemed  to 
start  from  his  forehead,  thick  drops  fell  down  his  face,  and  his 
voice  rolled  through  lips  livid  with  passion  and  covered  with 
foam.  It  is  almost  unnecessary  to  say  that  such  an  appeal 
was  irresistible.  The  multitude  burst  into  shouts  of  acclama- 
tion, and  would  have  been  ready  to  mount  a  battery  roaring 
with  cannon  at  his  command.  Two  days  after  the  results 
were  felt  at  the  hustings  ;  and  while  Sir  Edward  O'Brien  stood 
aghast,  Father  Murphy  marched  into  Ennis  at  the  head  of  his 
tenantry,  and  polled  them  to  a  man  in  favor  of  Daniel  O'Con- 
nell.     But  I  am  anticipating. 

The  notion  which  had  gone  abroad  in  Dublin,  that  the 
priests  were  lukewarm,  was  utterly  unfounded.  With  the 
exception  of  Dean  O'Shaughnessy,  who  is  a  relative  of  Mr. 
Fitzgerald  (and  for  whom  there  is  perhaps  much  excuse),  and 
a  Father  Coffey,  who  has  since  been  deserted  by  his  congrega- 
tion, and  is  paid  his  dues  in  bad  halfpence,  there  was  scarcely 
a  clergyman  in  the  county  who  did  not  use  his  utmost  influence 
over  the  peasantry.  On  the  day  on  which  Mr.  O'Connell 
arrived,  you  met  a  priest  in  every  street,  who  assured  you  that 


284  CLARE    ELECTION. 

the  battle  should  be  won,  and  pledged  himself  that  "the  man 
of  the  people'"  should  be  returned.  "  The  man  of  the  people" 
arrived  in  the  midst  of  the  loudest  acclamations.  Near  thirty 
thousand  people  were  crowded  into  the  streets  of  Ennis,  and 
were  unceasing  in  their  shouts.  Banners  were  suspended  from 
every  window,  and  women  of  great  beauty  were  everywhere 
seen  waving  handherchiefs  with  the  figure  of  the  patriot 
stamped  upon  them.  Processions  of  freeholders,  with  their 
parish  priests  at  their  head,  were  marching  like  troops  to  dif- 
ferent quarters  of  the  city  ;  and  it  was  remarkable  that  not  a 
single  individual  Avas  intoxicated.  The  most  perfect  order 
and  regularity  prevailed  ;  and  the  large  bodies  of  police  which 
had  been  collected  in  the  town  stood  without  occupation. 
These  v/ere  evidences  of  organization,  from  which  it  was  easy 
to  form  a  conjecture  as  to  the  result. 

The  election  opened,  and  the  courthouse  in  which  the 
Sheriff  read  the  writ  presented  a  very  new  and  striking 
scene.  On  the  left-hand  of  the  Sheriff  stood  a  Cabinet-minis- 
ter, attended  by  the  whole  body  of  the  aristocracy  of  the 
County  of  Clare.  Their  appearance  indicated  at  once  their 
superior  rank  and  their  profound  mortification.  An  expression 
of  bitterness  and  of  wounded  pride  was  stamped  in  various 
modifications  of  resentment  upon  their  countenances ;  while 
others,  who  were  in  the  interest  of  Mr.  Fitzgerald,  and  who 
were  the  small  Protestant  proprietors,  affected  to  look  big  and 
important,  and  swelled  themselves  into  gentry  upon  the  credit 
of  voting  for  the  minister.  On  the  right-hand  of  the  Sheriff 
stood  Mr.  O'Connell,  with  scarcely  a  single  gentleman  by  his 
side  ;  for  most  even  of  the  Catholic  proprietors  had  abandoned 
him,  and  joined  the  ministerial  candidate.  But  the  body  of 
the  Court  presented  the  power  of  Mr.  O'Connell  in  a  mass  of 
determined  peasants,  among  whom  black  coats  and  sacerdotal 
visages  were  seen  felicitously  intermixed,  outside  the  balus- 
trade of  the  gallery  on  the  left-hand  of  the  Sheriff. 

Before  the  business  began,  a  gentleman  was  observed  on 
whom  every  eye  was  turned.  He  had  indeed  chosen  a  most 
singular  position  ;  for,  instead  of  sitting  like  the  other  auditors 
on  the  seats  in  the  gallery,  he  leaped  over  it,  and,  suspending 


THE   HIGH-SHERIFF.  285 

himself  above  the  crowd,  afforded  what  was  an  object  of  won- 
der to  the  great  body  of  the  spectators,  and  of  indignation  to 
the  High-Sheriff.  The  attire  of  the  individual  who  was  thus 
perched  in  this  dangerous  position  was  sufficiently  strange. 
He  had  a  coat  of  Irish  tabinet,  with  glossy  trousers  of  the 
same  national  material ;  he  wore  no  waistcoat ;  a  blue  shirt, 
lined  with  streaks  of  white,  was  open  at  his  neck,  in  which  the 
strength  of  Hercules  and  the  symmetry  of  Antinous  were  com- 
bined ;  a  broad  green  sash,  with  a  medal  of  "  the  order  of 
Liberators"  at  the  end  of  it,  hung  conspicuously  over  his 
breast ;  and  a  profusion  of  black  curls,  curiously  festooned 
about  his  temples,  shadowed  a  very  handsome  and  expressive 
countenance,  a  great  part  of  which  was  occupied  by  whiskers 
of  a  busy  amplitude.  "  Who,  sir,  are  you  ?"  exclaimed  the 
High-Sheriff,  in  a  tone  of  imperious  melancholy,  which  he  had 
acquired  at  Canton,  where  he  had  long  resided  in  the  service 
of  the  East  India  Company. 

But  I  must  pause  here,  and  even  at  the  hazard  of  breaking 
the  regular  thread  of  the  narration  —  I  can  not  resist  the 
temptation  of  describing  the  High-Sheriff.  When  he  stood  up 
with  his  wand  of  office  in  his  hand,  the  contrast  between  him 
and  the  aerial  gentleman  whom  he  was  addressing  was  to  the 
highest  degree  ludicrous.  Of  the  latter  some  conception  has 
already  been  given.  He  looked  a  chivalrous  dandy,  who, 
under  the  most  fantastical  apparel,  carried  the  spirit  and  intre- 
pidity of  an  exceedingly  fine  fellow.  Mr.  High-Sheriff  had, 
at  an  early  period  of  his  life,  left  his  native  county  of  Clare, 
and  had  migrated  to  China,  where,  if  I  may  judge  from  his 
manners  and  demeanor,  he  must  have  been  in  immediate  com- 
munication with  a  Mandarin  of  the  first  class,  and  made  a 
Chinese  functionary  his  favorite  model.  I  should  conjecture 
that  he  must  long  have  presided  over  the  packing  of  Bohea, 
and  that  some  tincture  of  that  agreeable  vegetable  had  been 
infused  into  his  complexion.  An  oriental  sedateness  and 
gravity  are  spread  over  a  countenance  upon  which  a  smile 
seldom  presumes  to  trespass.  He  gives  utterance  to  intona- 
tions which  were  originally  contracted  in  the  East,  but  have 
been  since  melodized  by  his  religious  habits  into  a  puritanical 


286  CLARE    ELECTION. 

chant  in  Ireland.  The  Chinese  language  is  monosyllabic,  and 
Mr.  Molony  has  extended  its  character  to  the  English  tongue  ; 
for  he  breaks  all  his  words  into  separate  and  elaborate  divisions, 
to  each  of  which  he  bestows  a  due  quantity  of  deliberate  into- 
nation. Upon  arriving  in  Ireland,  he  addicted  himself  to 
godliness,  having  previously  made  great  gains  in  China,  and 
he  has  so  contrived  as  to  impart  the  cadences  of  Wesley  to  the 
pronunciation  of  Confucius. 

Such  was  the  aspect  of  the  great  public  functionary,  who, 
rising  with  a  peculiar  magisteriality  of  altitude,  and  stretching 
forth  the  emblem  of  his  power,  inquired  of  the  gentleman  who 
was  suspended  from  the  gallery  who  he  was.  "  My  name 
is  O'Grorman  Mahon,"  was  the  reply,  delivered  with  a  firmness 
Avhich  clearly  showed  that  the  person  who  had  conveyed  this 
piece  of  intelligence  thought  very  little  of  a  High-Sherijff  and 
a  great  deal  of  O'Gorman  Mahon.  The  Slieriff  had  been 
offended  by  the  general  appearance  of  Mr.  Mahon,  who  had 
distracted  the  public  attention  from  his  own  contemplation; 
but  he  was  particularly  irritated  by  observing  the  insurgent 
symbol  of  "  the  Order  of  Liberators"  dangling  at  his  breast.* 
"  I  tell  that  gentleman,"  said  Mr.  Molony,  '*  to  take  off  that 
badge."  There  was  a  moment's  pause,  and  then  the  following 
answer  was  slowly  and  articulately  pronounced:  "This  gen- 
tleman" (laying  his  hand  on  his  breast)  "  tells  that  gentleman" 
(pointing  with  the  other  to  the  Sheriff)  "  that  if  that  gentleman 
presumes  to  touch  this  gentleman,  this  gentleman  Avill  defend 
himself  against  that  gentleman,  or  any  other  gentleman,  while 
he  has  got  the  arm  of  a  gentleman  to  protect  him."     This  ex- 

*  The  Order  of  Liberators  arose  out  of  the  contested  election  for  the  county 
of  Waterford,  in  1826,  when  Mr.  Villiers  Stuart  (subsequently  raised  to  the 
peerage)  defeated  Lord  George  Beresford,  brother  to  the  Marquis  of  Waterford. 
The  forty-shilling  freeholders  having  thus  beaten  down  what  was  called  "  the 
Beresford  tyranny,"  O'Connell  instituted  the  Order  of  Liberators,  of  which  he 
was  Grand-Master,  to  commemorate  the  patriot'c  deed.  Whoever,  being  of 
good  character,  had  rendered  a  service  to  Ireland,  was  entitled  to  wear  the 
medal,  attached  to  a  broad  green  riband.  After  Clare  Election,  it  was  resolved, 
at  a  Chapter  of  the  Order,  over  which  Mr.  Lawless  presided,  that  four  thou- 
sand medals  should  be  struck,  for  the  purpose  of  distribution  among  the  liberal 
electors  ofClare.  —  M. 


SMITH  o'brien.  287 

traordinary  sentence  was  followed  by  a  loud  burst  of  applause 
from  all  parts  of  the  courthouse.  The  High-Sheriff  looked 
aghast.  The  expression  of  self-satisfaction  and  magisterial 
complacency  passed  off  of  his  visage,  and  he  looked  utterly 
blank  and  dejected.  After  an  interval  of  irresolution,  down 
he  sat.  "  The  soul"  of  O'Grorman  Mahon  (to  use  Curran's  ex- 
pression) "  walked  forth  in  its  own  majesty  ;"  he  looked  "  re- 
deemed, regenerated,  and  disenthralled."  The  medal  of  "  the 
Order  of  Liberators"  was  pressed  to  his  heart.  O'Oonnell  sur- 
veyed him  with  gratitude  and  admiration  ;  and  the  first  blow 
was  struck,  which  sent  dismay  into  the  heart  of  the  party  of 
whicli  the  Sheriff  was  considered  to  be  an  adherent. 

This  was  the  opening  incident  of  this  novel  drama.  When 
the  sensation  which  it  had  created  had  in  some  degree  sub- 
sided, the  business  of  the  day  went  on.  Sir  Edward  O'Brien 
proposed  Mr.  Vesey  Fitzgerald  as  a  proper  person  to  serve  in 
Parliament.  Sir  Edward  had  upon  a  former  occasion  been  the 
vehement  antagonist  of  Mr.  Fitzgerald,  and  in  one  instance  a 
regular  battle  had  been  fought  between  the  tenantry  of  both 
parties.  It  was  supposed  that  this  feud  had  left  some  acrimo- 
nious feelings  which  were  not  quite  extinct  behind,  and  many 
conjectured  that  the  zeal  of  Sir  Edward  in  favor  of  his  competi- 
tor was  a  little  feigned.  This  notion  was  confirmed  by  the 
circumstance  tliat  Sir  Edward  O'Brien's  son  (the  member  for 
Ennis)  had  subscribed  to  the  Catholic  rent,  was  a  member  of 
the  Association,  and  had  recently  made  a  vigorous  speech  in 
Parliament  in  defence  of  that  body.*     It  is,  however,  probable 

*  William  Smith  O'Brien,  of  Cahermoyle,  Clare  county,  second  son  of  the 
late  Sir  Edward  O'Brien,  was  born  on  October  17,  1803.  He  entered  Parlia- 
ment early,  and  soon  attached  himself  to  the  popular  cause.  His  ablest  speech 
in  Parliament  was  when  moving  for  an  inquiry  into  the  state  of  Ireland.  It 
was  a  clear  and  forcible  statement  of  Irish  grievances,  and  caused  a  prolonged 
and  exciting  discussion.  The  Repeal  agitation  of  1843-'4  made  him  a  con- 
vert, and  he  took  his  seat  in  Conciliation  Hall  amid  much  applause,  as  his 
adhesion,  delayed  till  then,  was  evidently  caused  by  conviction.  While  O'Con- 
neli  was  in  duresse,  under  illegal  verdict  and  judgment,  in  1844  his  place  in 
Conciliation  Hall  was  supplied  by  Smith  O'Brien,  who  announced  that,  having 
abandoned  all  hope  of  "justice  to  Ireland"  from  the  Biitish  Parliament,  he 
withdrew  from  regular  attendance  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  w^uld  now 


288  CLARE   ELECTION. 

that  tlie  feudal  pride  of  Sir  Edward  O'Brien,  which  was  deeply 
mortified  by  the  defection  of  his  vassals,  absorbed  every  other 
feeling,  and  that,  however  indifferent  he  might  have  been  on 
Mr.  Fitzgerald's  account,  yet  that  he  was  exceedingly  imtatcd 
upon  his  own.  He  appeared  at  least  to  be  profoundly  moved, 
and  had  not  spoken  above  a  few  minutes  when  tears  fell  from 
his  eyes.  He  has  a  strong  Irish  character  impressed  upon  him. 
It  is  said  that  he  is  lineally  descended  from  the  Irish  emperor, 
Brian-Borue  ;  and  indeed  he  has  some  resemblance  to  the  sign- 
post at  a  tavern  near  Clontarf,  in  which  the  image  of  that  cel- 
ebrated monarch  is  represented.  He  is  squat,  bluff,  and  impas- 
sioned. An  expression  of  good-nature,  rather  than  of  good- 
humor,  is  mixed  up  with  a  certain  rough  consciousness  of  his 
own  dignity,  which  in  his  most  familiar  moments  he  never 
lays  aside,  for  the  Milesian  predominates  in  his  demeanor,  and 
his  royal  recollections  wait  perpetually  upon  him.  He  is  a 
great  favorite  with  the  people,  who  are  attached  to  the  descend- 
ants of  the  ancient  indigenous  families  of  the  county,  and  who 
see  in  Sir  Edward  O'Brien  a  good  landlord,  as  well  as  the  rep- 
resentative of  Brian  Borue. 

I  was  not  a  little  astonished  at  seeing  him  weep  upon  the 
hustings.  It  was,  however,  observed  to  me  that  he  is  given  to 
the  "  melting  mood,"  although  his  tears  do  not  fall  like  the 
•gum  of  "  the  Arabian  tree."  In  the  House  of  Commons  he 
once  produced  a  great  effect,  by  bursting  into  tears,  while  he 
described  the  misery  of  the  people  of  Clare,  although,  at  the 

apply  his  energies  to  the  attainment  of  a  domestic  legislature  for  Ireland.  In 
18-16,  still  declining  to  attend,  he  refused  to  serve  on  a  railway  committee,  and 
was  committed  to  confinement  by  the  House  of  Commons  for  "  contempt." 
After  a  time  he  was  liberated,  but  without  any  concession  on  his  part.  In 
1848,  hiiving  ardently  adopted  "physical  force"  principles,  he  unsuccessfully 
attempted  to  liberate  Ireland  from  legislative  connection  with  Gi'eat  Britain  : 
waS~app]  chendcd,  committed,  and  tried  for  high-treason ;  convicted,  sentenced 
to  death  (for  which  transportation  for  life  was  substituted),  and  hurriedly  de- 
ported to  Van  Dieman's  Land,  the  very  worst  of  the  penal  settlements,  and 
commonly  called  "  Hell-upon-earth,"  and  is  now  (January,  1854)  a  "  convict" 
there.  Marked  ability  and  the  purest  motives  have  always  distinguished  this 
man,  who  loved  Ireland  "not  wisely"  (under  acts  of  Parliament),  "but  too 
well."  — M. 


VESEY   FITZGERALD.  289 

same  time,  his  granaries  were  full.  It  was  said  that  his  hust- 
ings pathos  was  of  the  same  quality,  and  arose  from  the  pecu- 
liar susceptibility  of  the  lacrymatory  nerves,  and  not  from  any 
very  nice  fibres  about  the  heart :  still  I  am  convinced  that  his 
emotion  was  genuine,  and  that  he  was  profoundly  touched. 
He  complained  that  he  had  been  deserted  by  his  tenants,  al- 
though he  had  deserved  well  at  their  hands  ;  and  exclaimed  that 
the  country  was  not  one  fit  for  a  gentleman  to  reside  in,  when 
property  lost  all  its  influence,  and  things  were  brought  to  such 
a  pass.  The  motion  was  seconded  by  Sir  A.  Fitzgerald  in  a 
few  words.*  Mr.  Gore,  a  gentleman  of  very  large  estate,  took 
occasion  to  deliver  his  opinions  in  favor  of  Mr.  Fitzgerald ;  and 
Mr.  O'Grorman  Mahon  and  Mr.  Steele  proposed  Mr.  O'Oonnell. 
It  then  fell  to  the  rival  candidates  to  speak ;  and  Mr.  Vesey 
Fitzgerald,  having  been  first  put  in  nomination,  first  addressed 
the  freeholders.  He  seemed  to  me  to  be  about  five-and-forty 
years  of  age,  his  hair  being  slightly  marked  with  a  little  edg- 
ing of  scarcely-perceptible  silver,  but  the  care  with  which  it 
was  distributed  and  arranged  showed  that  the  Cabinet  Minis- 
ter had  not  yet  entirely  dismissed  his  Lothario  recollections.  I 
had  heard,  before  I  had  even  seen  Mr.  Fitzgerald,  that  he  was 
in  great  favor  with  the  Calistas  at  Almack's ;  and  I  was  not 
surprised  at  it,  on  a  minute  inspection  of  his  aspect  and  deport- 
ment. It  is  not  that  he  is  a  handsome  man  (though  he  is  far 
from  being  the  reverse),  but  that  there  is  an  air  of  blended 
sweetness  and  assurance,  of  easy  intrepidity  and  gentle  grace- 
fulness about  him,  which  are  considered  to  be  eminently  win- 
ning. His  countenance,  though  too  fully  circular,  and  a  little 
tinctured  with  vermilion,  is  agreeable.  The  eyes  are  of  bright 
hazel,  and  have  an  expression  of  ever-earnest  frankness,  which 
an  acute  observer  might  suspect,  while  his  mouth  is  full  of  a 
strenuous  solicitude  to  please.  The  moment  he  rose,  I  per- 
ceived that  he  was  an  accomplished  gentleman ;  and,  when  I 
had  heard  him  utter  a  few  sentences,  I  was  satisfied  that  he 
was  a  most  accomplished  speaker. 

*  Sir  Augustus  Fitzgerald,  of  Newmarket-on-Fergus,  county  of  Clare,  a 
Lieutenant-General  in  the  army,  was  created  Baronet  in  1821,  and  died  in 
1834.  — M. 

Vol.  II.  — 13 


290  CLAKE    ELECTION. 

He  delivered  one  of  the  most  effective  and  dexterous  speeches 
wliicli  it  has  ever  been  my  good  fortune  to  hear.  There  were 
evident  marks  of  deep  pain  and  of  fear  to  be  traced  in  his  fea- 
tures, which  were  not  free  from  the  haggardness  of  many  an 
anxious  vigil ;  but  though  he  was  manifestly  mortified  in  the 
extreme,  he  studiously  refrained  from  all  exasperating  senti- 
ment or  expression.  He  spoke  at  first  with  a  graceful  melan- 
choly, rather  than  a  tone  of  impassioned  adjuration.  He  inti- 
mated that  it  was  rather  a  measure  of  rigorous,  if  not  unjustifi- 
able policy,  to  display  the  power  of  the  Association  in  throwing 
an  individual  out  of  Parliament  who  had  been  the  warm  and 
uniform  advocate  of  the  Catholic  cause  during  his  whole  politi- 
cal life.  He  enumerated  the  instances  in  which  he  had  ex- 
erted himself  in  behalf  of  that  body  which  were  now  dealing 
with  him  with  such  severity,  and  referred  to  his  services  with 
regard  to  the  College  of  Maynooth. 

The  part  of  his  speech  which  was  most  powerful  related  to 
his  father.  The  latter  had  opposed  the  Union,  and  had  many 
claims  upon  the  national  gratitude.  The  topic  was  one  which 
required  to  be  most  delicately  touched,  and  no  orator  could 
treat  it  with  a  more  exquisite  nicety  than  Mr.  Fitzgerald.  He 
became,  as  he  advanced,  and  the  recollection  of  his  father 
pressed  itself  more  immediately  upon  his  mind,  more  impas- 
sioned. At  the  moment  he  was  speaking,  his  father,  to  whom 
he  is  most  tenderly  attached,  and  by  whom  he  is  most  beloved, 
was  lying  upon  a  bed  whence  it  was  believed  that  he  would 
never  rise  ;  and  efforts  had  been  made  to  conceal  from  the  old 
man  the  contest  in  which  his  son  was  involved.*  It  is  impos- 
sible to  mistake  genuine  grief;  and  when  Mr.  Fitzgerald  paused 
for  an  instant,  and,  turning  away,  wiped  off  the  tears  that  came 
streaming  from  his  eyes,  he  won  the  sympathies  of  every  one 
about  him.  There  were  few  who  did  not  give  the  same  evi- 
dence of  emotion ;  and  when  he  sat  down,  although  the  great 
majority  of  the  audience  were  strongly  opposed  to  him,  and 
were  enthusiasts  in  favor  of  the  rival  candidate,  a  loud  and 
unanimous  burst  of  acclamation  shook  the  courthouse. 

*  The  Right  Honorable  James  Fitzgerald,  who  sacrificed  place  and  its  errxJ* 
uments  for  his  country,  died  in  1835,  aged  ninety-three.  —  M. 


o'connell's  speech.  291 

Mr.  O'Oonnell  rose  to  address  the  people  in  reply.*  It  was 
manifest  that  he  considered  a  great  exertion  to  be  requisite  in 
order  to  do  away  the  impression  which  his  antagonist  had 
produced.  It  Avas  clear  that  he  was  collecting  all  his  might, 
to  those  who  were  acquainted  with  the  workings  of  his  physi- 
ognomy. Mr.  O'Connell  bore  Mr.  Fitzgerald  no  sort  of  per- 
sonal aversion,  but  he  determined,  in  this  exigency,  to  have 
little  mercy  on  his  feelings,  and  to  employ  all  the  power  of 
vituperation  of  which  he  was  possessed,  against  him.  This 
was  absolutely  necessary  ;  for  if  mere  dexterous  fencing  had 
been  resorted  to  by  Mr.  O'Connell,  many  might  have  gone 
away  with  the  opinion  that,  after  all,  Mr.  Fitzgerald  had  been 
thanklessly  treated  by  the  Catholic  body.  It  was  therefore 
disagreeably  requisite  to  render  him,  for  the  moment,  odious. 
Mr.  O'Connell  began  by  awakening  the  passions  of  the  multi- 
tude in  an  attack  on  Mr.  Fitzgerald's  allies.  Mr.  Oore  had 
lauded  him  highly.  This  Mr.  Gore  is  of  Cromwellian  descent, 
and  the  people  detest  the  memory  of  the  Protector  to  this  day. 
There  is  a  tradition  (I  know  not  whether  it  has  the  least 
foundation)  that  the  ancestor  of  this  gentleman's  family  was  a 
nailer  by  trade  in  the  Puritan  army.  Mr.  O'Connell,  without 
any  direct  reference  to  the  fact,  used  a  set  of  metaphors,  such 
as  "  striking  the  nail  on  the  head" — "  putting  a  nail  into  a 
coffin,"  which  at  once  recalled  the  associations  which  were 
attached  to  the  name  of  Mr.  Gore;  and  roars  of  laughter  as- 
sailed that  gentleman  on  every  side.  Mr.  Gore  has  the  char- 
acter of  being  not  only  very  opulent,  but  of  bearing  a  re- 

*  O'Connell's  personal  appearance  was  greatly  in  his  favor.  He  had  that 
massiveness  of  mould  which  the  populace  like  to  witness  in  one  who  aspires  to 
lead  them.  He  had  what  sing-ors  call  a  chest-voice;  deep,  clear,  musical,  and 
audible  even  in  a  whisper.  At  the  Clare  Election,  in  1828,  he  was  in  his  fift}-- 
third  year.  Prince  Puckler  Muscau,  who  visited  Ireland  about  this  time,  thus 
described  the  Man  of  the  People,  in  his  To^cr  of  a  German  Prince :  "  Daniel 
O'Connell,  is  indeed,  no  common  man,  though  the  man  of  the  commonalty. 
His  exterior  is  attractive,  and  the  expression  of  intelligent  good  nature,  united 
with  detennination  and  prudence,  which  marks  his  countenance,  is  exti-emely 
winning.  It  is  impossible  not  to  follow  his  powerful  arguments  with  interest: 
and  such  is  the  martial  dignity  of  his  carriage,  that  he  looks  more  like  a  gen- 
eral of  Napoleon's  than  a  Dublin  advocate." — M. 


292  CLARE    ELECTION. 

gard  to  his  possessions  proportioned  to  tLeir  extent.  Nothing 
is  so  unpopular  as  prudence  in  Ireland  ;  and  Mr.  O'Connell 
rallied  Mr.  Gore  to  such  a  point  upon  this  head,  and  that  of 
his  supposed  origin,  that  the  latter  completely  sunk  under  the 
attack.  He  next  proceeded  to  Mr.  Fitzgerald,  and,  having 
drawn  a  picture  of  the  late  Mr.  Perceval,  he  turned  round  and 
asked  of  the  rival  candidate,  with  what  face  he  could  call 
himself  their  friend,  when  the  first  act  of  his  political  life  was 
to  enlist  himself  under  the  banners  of  "  the  bloody  Perceval." 
This  epithet  (whether  it  be  well  or  ill  deserved  is  not  the  ques- 
tion) was  sent  into  the  hearts  of  the  people  with  a  force  of 
expression,  and  a  furious  vehemence  of  voice,  that  created  a 
great  sensation  among  the  crowd,  and  turned  the  tide  against 
Mr.  Fitzgerald.  "This  too,"  said  Mr.  O'Connell,  *' is  the 
friend  of  Peel — the  bloody  Perceval,  and  the  candid  and 
manly  Mr.  Peel  —  and  he  is  our  friend  !  and  he  is  everybody's 
friend !  The  friend  of  the  Catholic  was  the  friend  of  the 
bloody  Perceval,  and  is  the  friend  of  the  candid  and  manly 
Mr.  Peel!" 

It  is  unnecessary  to  go  through  Mr.  O'Connell's  speech.  It 
was  stamped  with  all  his  powerful  characteristics,*  and  galled 
Mr.  Fitzgerald  to  the  core.  That  gentleman  frequently  mut- 
tered an  interrogatory,  "  Is-  this  fair  ?"  when  Mr.  O'Connell 
was  using  some  legitimate  sophistication  against  him.  He 
seemed  particularly  offended  when  his  adversary  said,  "I 
never  shed  tears  in  public,"  which  was  intended  as  a  mockery 
of  Mr.  Fitzgerald's  references  to  his  father.  It  will  be  thought 
by  some  sensitive  persons  that  Mr.  O'Connell  was  not  quite 
warranted  in  this  harsh  dealing,  but  he  had  no  alternative. 
Mr.  Fitzgerald  had  made  a  very  powerful  speech,  and  the 
effect  was  to  be  got  rid  of.     In  such  a  warfare  a  man  must  not 

*  When  O'Connell  said  that  he  *'  was  the  best-abused  man  in  the  world," 
he  might  have  added  that  he  was  the  best-abusing.  However,  he  had  ample 
precedents,  one  of  which  now  occiu'S  to  me.  Sir  Archibald  Macdonald  (who 
was  Chief-Baron  of  the  English  Court  of  Exchequer,  from  1793  to  1813)  once 
told  Sir  Fletcher  Norton,  afterward  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons,  that  he 
was  "  a  lazy,  indolent,  evasive,  shuffling,  plausible,  artful,  mean,  confident, 
cowardly,  poor,  pitiful,  sneaking,  and  abject  creatui-e."  This  was  in  Parlia- 
ment, where  the  decencies  of  speech  are  supposed  to  be  observed  !  —  M. 


SWEARING  TO   GAIN   TIME.  293 

pause  in  the  selection  of  his  weapons,  and  Mr.  O'Oonnell  is 
not  the  man  to  hesitate  in  the  use  of  the  rhetorical  sabre. 

Nothing  of  any  peculiar  interest  occurred  after  Mr.  O'Con- 
nell's  speech  upon  the  first  day.  On  the  second  the  polling 
commenced  ;  and  on  that  day,  in  consequence  of  an  expedient 
adopted  by  Mr.  Fitzgerald's  committee,  the  parties  were  nearly 
equal.  A  Catholic  freeholder  can  not,  in  strictness,  vote  at  an 
election  without  making  a  certain  declaration,  upon  oath,  re- 
specting his  religious  opinions,  and  obtaining  a  certificate  of 
his  having  done  so  from  a  magistrate.  It  is  usual  for  candi- 
dates to  agree  to  dispense  with  the  necessity  of  taking  this 
oath.  It  was,  however,  of  importance  to  Mr.  Fitzgerald  to 
delay  the  election  ;  and  with  that  view  his  committee  required 
that  the  declaration,  should  be  taken.*  Mr.  O'Connell's  com- 
mittee were  unprepared  for  this  form,  and  it  was  with  the 
utmost  difficulty  that  magistrates  could  be  procured  to  attend 
to  receive  the  oath.  It  was,  therefore,  impossible,  on  the  first 
day,  for  Mr.  O'Oonnell  to  bring  his  forces  in  the  field,  and  thus 
the  parties  appeared  nearly  equal.  To  those  who  did  not 
know  the  real  cause  of  this  circumstance,  it  appeared  ominous, 
and  the  O'Connellites  looked  sufficiently  blank ;  but  the  next 
day  everything  was  remedied.  The  freeholders  were  sworn 
enmasse.  They  were  brought  into  a  yard  enclosed  within  four 
walls.  Twenty-five  were  placed  against  each  wall,  and  they 
simultaneously  repeated  the  oath.  When  one  batch  of  swear- 
ers had  been  disposed  of,  the  person  who  administered  the 
declaration,  turned  to  the  adjoining  division,  and  despatched 
them.  Thus  he  went  through  the  quadrangle,  and  in  the 
course  of  a  few  minutes  was  able  to  discharge  one  hundred 
patriots  upon  Mr.  Fitzgerald. 

It  may  be  said  that  an  oath  ought  to  be  more  solemnly 
administered.     In  reply  it  is  only  necessary  to  observe,  that 

*  Formerly,  a  County  Election  might  occupy  15  days,  in  the  mere  polling-  of 
tlie  voters.  The  Reform  Bill  has  changed  that,  and  County  Elections  can  not 
now  last  more  than  two  days  (if  there  be  a  contest),  exclusive  of  the  day  on 
which  the  candidates  are  publicly  nominated,  and  that  on  which  the  Returning 
officer  declares  the  result  of  the  electoral  sti-ife.  If  there  be  no  opposition  to 
the  candidate,  the  nomination,  candidate's  address,  and  declaration  of  the  elec- 
tion, need  not  occupy  an  hour.     I  have  seen  it  hurried  through  in  less  time. — M, 


294  CLABE   ELECTION. 

the  declaration  in  question  related  principally  to  "  the  Pre- 
tender," and  when  *'  the  legislature  persevere  in  compelling 
the  name  of  God  to  be  thus  taken  in  vain,"  the  ritual  becomes 
appropriately  farcical,  and  the  manner  of  the  thing  is  only 
adapted  to  the  ludicrous  matter  upon  which  it  is  legally 
requisite  that  Heaven  should  be  attested !  The  oath  which  is 
imposed  upon  a  Roman  Catholic  is  a  violation  of  the  first  pre- 
cept of  the  decalogue !  This  species  of  machinery  having 
been  thus  applied  to  the  art  of  swearing,  the  effects  upon  the 
poll  soon  became  manifest,  and  Mr.  O'Connell  ascended  to  a 
triumphant  majority.  It  became  clear  that  the  landlords  had 
lost  all  their  power,  and  that  their  struggles  were  utterly 
hopeless.  Still  they  persevered  in  dragging  the  few  serfs 
whom  they  had  under  their  control  to  the  hustings,  and  in 
protracting  the  election.  It  was  Mr.  Fitzgerald's  own  wish, 
I  believe,  to  abandon  the  contest,  when  its  ultimate  issue  was 
already  certain;  but  his  friends  insisted  that  the  last  man 
whom  they  could  command  should  be  polled  out.  Thus  the 
election  was  procrastinated. 

In  ordinary  cases,  the  interval  between  the  first  and  the  last 
day  of  polling  is  monotonous  and  dull ;  but  during  the  Clare 
election  so  many  ludicrous  and  extraordinary  incidents  were 
every  moment  occurring,  as  to  relieve  any  attentive  observer 
from  every  influence  of  ennui.  The  writer  of  this  article  was 
under  the  necessity  of  remaining  during  the  day  in  the  Sheriff's 
booth,  where  questions  of  law  were  chiefly  discussed,  but  even 
here  there  was  much  matter  for  entertainment.  The  sheriff 
afforded  a  perpetual  fund  of  amusement.  He  sat  with  his 
wand  of  office  leaning  against  his  shoulder,  and  always  ready 
for  his  grasp.  When  there  was  no  actual  business  going  for- 
ward, he  still  preserved  a  magisterial  dignity  of  deportment, 
and  with  half-closed  eyelids,  and  throwing  back  his  head,  and 
forming  with  his  chin  an  obtuse  angle  with  the  horizon,  re- 
proved any  indulgence  in  illicit  mirth  which  might  chance  to 
pass  among  the  bar.  The  gentleman  who  were  professionally 
engaged  having  discovered  the  chief  foible  of  the  Sheriff, 
which  consisted  in  the  most  fantastical  notions  of  himself,  vied 
with  each  other  in  playing  upon  this  weakness.     "  I  feel  that 


THE   FIRST  MAN   IN   THE   COUNTY.  295 

I  address  myself  to  the  first  man  of  the  comity,"  was  the  usual 
•exordium  with  which  legal  argument  was  opened.*  The 
Sheriff,  instead  of  perceiving  the  sneer  which  involuntarily 
played  round  the  lips  of  the  mocking  sycophant,  smiled  with 
an  air  of  Malvolio  condescension,  and  bowed  his  head.  Then 
came  some  noise  from  the  adjoining  booths,  upon  which  the 
Sheriff  used  to  start  up  and  exclaim,  "  I  declare  I  do  not  think 
that  I  am  treated  with  proper  respect — veril}'-,  I'll  go  forth 
and  quell  this  tumult  —  I'll  show  them  I  am  the  first  man  in 
the  county,  and  I'll  commit  somebody."  With  that  "  the  first 
man  in  the  county,"  with  a  step  slightly  accelerated  by  his 
resentment  at  a  supposed  indignity  to  himself,  used  to  proceed 
in  quest  of  a  riot,  but  generally  returned  with  a  good-humored 

*  The  Sheriff's  powers  exceeded  those  of  the  Magistracy.  In  those  days,  nearly 
every  out-at-elbows  Protestant,  who,  like  Justice  Shallow,  could  write  himself 
"  in  any  bill,  warrant,  quittance,  or  obligation,  armigero,''^  was  made  a  magis- 
trate, provided  he  had  the  requisite  amount  of  Ascendency  intolerance.  The 
vademecum,  of  such  justices,  under  which  they  dispensed  law  indifferently  {very 
indifferently,  indeed),  was  MacNally's  "  Justice  of  the  Peace  in  Ireland," 
which,  with  adaptations  to  the  present  state  of  the  law,  is  yet  in  vogue  and  has 
long  been  to  magistrates  in  Ireland,  what  "  Bum's  Justice"  is  to  those  of  Eng- 
land. As  originally  published,  it  was  full  of  errors,  and  those  who  acted  on  it, 
often  found  themselves  di-awn  into  lawsuits,  as  defendants.  "  What  could  make 
you  act  so?"  MacNally  would  ask,  "  Faith,  sir,  I  acted  on  the  advice  of  your 
own  book  !"  Not  much  taken  aback,  for  such  scenes  were  frequent,  MacNally 
would  say,  "As  a  human  work,  the  book  has  errors,  no  doubt  —  but  I  shall  cor- 
rect them  all  when  it  comes  to  a  second  edition '.^^ — Leonard  MacNally  was 
very  short  and  nearly  as  broad  as  long :  his  legs  were  of  unequal  length,  and 
he  had  a  face  which  no  washing  could  clean,  and  he  wanted  one  thumb.  He 
had  good  eyes  and  an  expressive  countenance.  He  was  lame,  also,  whicli 
made  Curran  say,  when  he  entered  the  lawyer's  coi-ps,  in  1798,  that  he  ran  a 
chance  of  being  shot  for  disobedience  of  orders,  for  that  when  the  adjutant 
would  cry  "march,"  MacNally  would  certainly  "■  halt  f^  When  he  walked 
rapidly,  he  would  take  two  thumping  steps  with  the  short  leg,  to  bring  up  the 
space  made  by  the  long  one,  and  from  this  the  bar  nicknamed  him  "  One  pound 
two."  He  was  expelled  by  the  bar-mess,  on  account  of  the  dirtiness  of  his 
person.  Once  when  he  went  to  France  for  a  month,  Curran  said,  "  He  has 
taken  a  shirt  and  a  guinea,  and  he'll  change  neither  until  he  comes  back."  The 
well-known  song,  "The  lass  of  Richmond  Hill"  was  written  by  MacNally  upon 
his  sweetheart,  a  Miss  Janson,  who  sympathized  with  him  in  scribbling  verses 
and  not  washing  her  hands.  They  were  married,  lived  happily,  and,  to  the  last, 
wete  economic  in  the  use  of  soap!  —  M. 


296  CLAEE   ELECTION. 

expression  of  face,  observing  :  "  It  was  only  Mr.  O'Connell, 
and  I  must  say  when  I  remonstrated  Avitli  liim,  he  paid  me 
every  sort  of  proper  respect.  He  is  quite  a  different  person 
from  what  I  had  heard.  But  let  nobody  imagine  that  I  was 
afraid  of  him.  I'd  commit  him,  or  Mr.  Vesey  Fitzgerald,  if  I 
was  not  treated  with  proper  respect ;  for  by  virtue  of  my  office 
I  am  the  first  man  in  the  county."  This  phrase  of  the  Sheriff 
became  so  familiar,  that  a  set  of  v/ags,  who  in  the  intervals  of 
leisure,  had  set  about  practising  mimicry,  emulated  each  other 
in  repeating  it,  and  succeeded  in  producing  various  pleasant 
imitations  of  the  "  first  man  in  the  county." 

A  young  gentleman  (Mr.  Nicholas  Whyte)  turned  this  talent 
to  a  very  pleasant  and  useful  account.  He  acted  as  agent  to 
Mr.  O'Connell,  in  a  booth  of  which  the  chief  officer,  or  Sheriff's 
Deputy,  as  he  is  called,  was  believed  to  be  a  partisan  of  Mr. 
Fitzgerald,  and  used  to  delay  Mr.  O'Oonnell's  tallies.  A  tu- 
mult would  then  ensue,  and  the  deputy  would  raise  his  voice 
in  a  menacing  tone  against  the  friends  of  Mr.  O'Connell.  The 
High-Sheriff'  himself  had  been  accustomed  to  go  to  the  entrance 
of  the  different  booths  and  to  command  silence  with  his  long- 
drawn  and  dismal  ejaculations.  "When  the  deputy  was  bearing 
it  with  a  high  hand,  Mr.  "Whyte  would  sometimes  leave  the 
booth,  and  standing  at  the  outward  edge  of  the  crowd,  just  at 
the  moment  that  the  deputy  was  about  to  commit  some  parti 
san  of  Mr.  O'Connell,  the  mimic  would  exclaim,  in  a  death-bell 
voice,  "  Silence,  Mr.  Deputy,  you  are  exceedingly  disorderly 
— silence!"  The  deputy  being  enveloped  by  the  multitude, 
could  not  see  the  individual  who  thus  addressed  him,  and  be- 
lieving it  to  be  the  Sheriff,  sat  down  confounded  at  the  admo- 
nition, while  Mr.  O'Connell's  tally  went  rapidly  on,  and  the 
disputed  vote  was  allowed. 

These  vagaries  enlivened  occupations  which  in  their  nature 
v/ere  sufficiently  dull.  But  the  Sheriff's  booth  afforded  matter 
more  deserving  of  note  than  his  singularities.  Charges  of  un- 
due influence  were  occasionally  brought  forward,  which  exhib- 
ited the  character  of  the  election  in  its  strongest  colors. 

One  incident  I  particularly  remember.  An  attorney  em- 
ployed by  Mr.  Fitzgerald  rushed  in  and  exclaimed  that  a  pries* 


FATHER   MUEPHY   OF   COEOFIN.  297 

was  terrifying  the  voters.  This  accusation  produced  a  power- 
ful effect.  The  counsel  for  Mr.  O'Connell  defied  the  attorney 
to  make  out  his  charge.  The  assessor  very  properly  required 
that  the  priest  should  attend ;  and  behold  Father  Murphy  of 
Corofin  !  His  solemn  and  spectral  aspect  struck  everybody. 
He  advanced  with  fearlessness  to  the  bar,  behind  which  the 
Sheriff  was  seated,  and  inquired  what  the  charge  was  which 
had  been  preferred  against  him,  with  a  smile  of  ghastly  deris- 
ion. "  You  were  looking  at  my  voters,"  cries  the  attorney. 
**  But  I  said  nothing,"  replied  the  priest,  "  and  I  suppose  that 
I  am  to  be  permitted  to  look  at  my  parishioners."  —  *'  Not  with 
such  a  face  as  that!"  cried  Mr.  Dogherty,  one  of  Mr.  Fitzger- 
ald's counsel.  This  produced  a  loud  laugh  ;  for,  certainly,  the 
countenance  of  Father  Murphy  was  fraught  with  no  ordinary 
terrors.  "And  this,  then,"  exclaimed  Mr. O'Connell's  counsel, 
"  is  the  charge  you  bring  against  the  priests  !  Let  us  see  if 
there  be  an  act  of  Parliament  which  prescribes  that  a  Jesuit 
shall  wear  a  mask."  At  this  instant,  one  of  the  agents  of  Mr. 
O'Connell  precipitated  himself  into  the  room,  and  cried  out, 
*'  Mr.  Sheriff,  we  have  no  fair  play — Mr.  Singleton  is  frighten- 
ing his  tenants  —  he  caught  hold  of  one  of  them  just  now,  and 
threatened  vengeance  against  him."  This  accusation  came 
admirably  apropos.  "  What !"  exclaimed  the  advocate  of  Mr. 
O'Connell,  "  is  this  to  be  endured  1  Do  we  live  in  a  free  coun- 
try, and  under  a  constitution  ?  Is  a  landlord  to  commit  a  bat- 
tery with  impunity,  and  is  a  priest  to  be  indicted  for  his  physi- 
ognomy, and  to  be  found  guilty  of  a  look  ?"  Thu5  a  valuable 
set-off  against  Father  Murphy's  eyebrows  was  obtained.  After 
a  long  debate,  the  assessor  decided  that,  if  either  a  priest  or  a 
landlord  actually  interrupted  the  poll,  they  should  be  indis- 
criminately committed ;  but  thought  the  present  a  case  only 
for  admonition.  Father  Murphy  was  accordingly  restored  to 
his  physiognomical  functions. 

The  matter  had  been  scarcely  disposed  of,  when  a  loud  shout 
was  heard  from  the  multitude  outside  the  courthouse,  which 
had  gathered  in  thousands,  and  yet  generally  preserved  a  pro- 
found tranquillity.  The  large  window  in  the  Sheriff's  booth 
gave  an  opportunity  of  observing  whatever  took  place  in  the 

13* 


298  CLARE    ELECTION. 

square  below ;  and,  attracted  by  tbe  tremendous  uproar,  every- 
body ran  to  see  Avliat  was  going  on  among  the  crowd.  Tbe 
tumult  was  produced  by  tbe  arrival  of  some  bundred  freebold- 
ers  from  Kilrusb,  witb  tbeir  landlord,  Mr.  Vandeleur,  at  tbeir 
bead.  He  stood  bebind  a  carriage,  and,  witb  bis  bat  off,  was 
seen  vebemently  addressing  tbe  tenants  wbo  followed  bim. 
It  was  impossible  to  bear  a  word  wbicb  be  uttered,  but  bis 
gesture  was  sufficiently  significant :  be  stamped,  and  waved 
his  bat,  and  sbook  bis  clincbed  band.  Wbile  be  tbus  adjured 
tbem,  tbe  crowd  tbrougb  wbicb  tbey  were  passing  assailed 
tbem  witb  cries  :  "  Vote  for  your  country,  boys  !  vote  for  tbe 
old  religion  !  —  Tbree  cbeers  for  liberty  !  —  Down  witb  Vesey, 
and  burra  for  O'Connell !"  Tbese  were  tbe  exclamations  wbicb 
rent  tbe  air  as  tbey  proceeded.  Tbey  followed  tbeir  landlord 
until  tbey  bad  readied  a  part  of  tbe  square  M'^bere  Mr.  O'Oon 
nell  lodged,  and  before  wbicb  a  large  platform  bad  been  erect- 
ed, wbicb  communicated  witb  tbe  window  of  bis  apartment, 
and  to  wbicb  be  could  advance  wbenever  it  was  necessary  to 
address  tbe  people.  Wben  Mr.  Yandeleur's  freebolders  bad 
attained  tbis  spot,  Mr.  O'Connell  rusbed  forward  on  tbe  plat- 
form, and  lifted  up  bis  arm.  A  tremendous  sbout  succeeded, 
and  in  an  instant  Mr.  Vandeleur  was  deserted  by  bis  tenants. 

Tbis  platform  exbibited  some  of  tbe  most  remarkable  scenes 
wbicb  were  enacted  in  tbis  strange  drama  of  "  Tbe  Clare  Elec- 
tion." It  was  sustained  by  pillars  of  wood,  and  stretcbed  out 
several  feet  from  tbe  wall  to  wbicb  it  was  attached.  Some 
twenty  or  thirty  persons  could  stand  upon  it  at  tbe  same  time. 
A  large  quantity  of  green  boughs  were  turned  about  it,  and, 
from  the  sort  of  bower  which  tbey  formed,  occasional  orators 
addressed  the  people  during  tbe  day.  Mr.  M'Dermot,  a  young 
gentleman  from  tbe  county  of  Galway,  of  considerable  fortune, 
and  a  great  deal  of  talent  as  a  speaker,  used  to  harangue  tbe 
multitude  witb  great  effect.  Father  Sheeban,  a  clergyman 
from  Waterford,  who  bad  been  mainly  instrumental  in  tbe 
overthrow  of  tbe  Beresfords,  also  displayed  from  tbis  spot  his 
eminent  popular  abilities.  A  Dr.  Kenny,  a  Waterford  surgeon, 
thinking  that  "  tbe  times  were  out  of  joint,"  came  "  to  set  tbem 
right."     Father  Maguire,  Mr.  Lawless,  indeed  the  whole  com- 


A   SOLEMN    SCENE.  299 

pany  of  orators,  performed  on  this  theatre  with  indefatigable 
energy. 

Mirth  and  declamation,  and  anecdote  and  grotesque  deline- 
ation, and  mimicry,  were  all  blended  together  for  the  public 
entertainment.  One  of  the  most  amusing  and  attractive  topics 
was  drawn  fi-om  the  adherence  of  Father  Coffey  to  Mr.  Fitz- 
gerald. His  manners,  his  habits,  his  dress,  were  all  selected 
as  materials  for  ridicule  and  invective ;  and  puns,  not  the  less 
effective  because  they  were  obvious,  were  heaped  upon  his 
name.  The  scorn  and  detestation  with  which  he  was  treated 
by  the  mob  clearly  proved  that  a  priest  has  no  influence  over 
them  when  he  attempts  to  run  counter  to  their  political  pas- 
sions. He  can  hurry  them  on  in  the  career  into  which  their 
own  feelings  impel  them,  but  he  can  not  turn  them  into  another 
course.  Many  incidents  occurred  about  this  rostrum,  which, 
if  matter  did  not  crowd  too  fast  upon  me,  I  should  stop  to 
detail.  I  have  not  room  for  a  minute  narration  of  all  that 
was  interesting  at  this  election,  which  would  occupy  a  vol- 
ume, and  must  limit  myself  to  one,  but  that  a  very  striking 
circumstance. 

The  generality  of  the  orators  were  heard  with  loud  and 
clamorous  approbation ;  but,  at  a  late  hour  one  evening,  and 
when  it  was  growing  rapidly  dark,  a  priest  came  forward  on 
the  platform,  who  addressed  the  multitude  in  Irish.  There 
was  not  a  word  uttered  by  the  people.  Ten  thousand  peasants 
were  assembled  before  the  speaker,  and  a  profound  stillness 
hung  over  the  living  but  almost  breathless  mass.  For  minutes 
they  continued  thus  deeply  attentive,  and  seemed  to  be  struck 
with  awe  as  he  proceeded.  Suddenly  I  saw  the  whole  multi- 
tude kneel  down,  in  one  concurrent  genuflection.  They  were 
engaged  in  silent  prayer,  and  when  the  priest  arose  (for  he  too 
had  knelt  down  on  the  platform),  they  also  stood  up  together 
from  their  orison.  The  movement  was  performed  with  the 
facility  of  a  regimental  evolution.  I  asked  (being  unacquainted 
with  the  language)  what  it  was  that  had  occasioned  this  ex- 
traordinary spectacle ;  and  was  informed  that  the  orator  had 
stated  to  the  people  that  one  of  his  own  parishioners,  who  had 
voted  for  Mr.  Fitzgerald,  had  just  died ;  and  he  called  upon 


300  CLARE   ELECTION. 

the  multitude  to  pray  to  God  for  the  repose  of  his  soul,  and  the 
forgiveness  of  the  offence  which  he  had  committed  in  taking 
the  bribery  oath.  Money,  it  seems,  had  been  his  inducement 
to  give  his  suffrage  against  Mr.  O'Oonnell.  Individuals,  in 
reading  this,  will  exclaim,  perhaps,  against  these  expedients 
for  the  production  of  effect  upon  the  popular  passions.  Let  me 
observe  in  parenthesis,  that  the  fault  of  all  this  (if  it  is  to  be 
condemned)  does  not  lie  with  the  Association,  with  the  priest- 
hood, or  with  the  people,  but  with  the  law,  which  has,  by  its 
system  of  anomalies  and  alienations,  rendered  the  national 
mind  susceptible  of  such  impressions. 

Thus  it  was  the  day  passed,  and  it  was  not  until  nearly  nine 
o'clock  that  those  who  were  actively  engaged  in  the  election 
went  to  dinner.  There  a  new  scene  was  opened.  In  a  small 
room  in  a  mean  tavern,  kept  by  a  Mrs.  Carmody,  the  whole 
body  of  leading  patriots,  counsellors,  attorneys,  and  agents, 
with  divers  interloping  partakers  of  election  hospitality,  were 
crammed  and  piled  upon  one  another,  while  Mr.  O'Connell  sat 
at  the  head  of  the  feast,  almost  overcome  with  fatigue,  but  yet 
sustained  by  that  vitality  which  success  produces.  Enormous 
masses  of  beef,  pork,  mvitton,  turkeys,  tongues,  and  fowl,  were 
strewed  upon  the  deal-boards,  at  which  the  hungry  masticators 
proceeded  to  their  operations.  For  some  time  nothing  was 
heard  but  the  clatter  of  the  utensils  of  eating,  interrupted  by 
an  occasional  hobnobbing  of  "  the  counsellor,"  who,  with  his 
usual  abstinence,  confined  himself  to  water. 

The  cravings  of  the  stomach  having  been  satisfied,  the  more 
intellectual  season  of  potations  succeeded.  A  hundred  tum- 
blers of  punch,  with  circular  slices  of  lemon,  diffused  the  essence 
of  John  Barleycorn  in  profuse  and  fragrant  steams.  Loud  cries 
for  hot  water,  spoons,  and  materials,  were  everywhere  heard, 
and  huge  jugs  were  rapidly  emptied  and  replenished  by  waiters, 
who  would  have  required  ubiquity  to  satisfy  all  the  demands 
upon  their  attention.  Toasts  were  then  proposed  and  speeches 
pronounced,  and  the  usual  "hip,  hip,  hurra!"  with  unusual  ac- 
companiments of  exultation,  followed.  The  feats  of  the  day 
were  then  narrated  :  the  blank  looks  of  Ned  Hickman,  whose 
face  had  lost  all  its  natural  hilarity,  and  looked  at  the  election 


A    MODEIIN    TANTALUS.  301 

like  a  full  moon  in  a  storm ;  the  shroud-colored  physiognomy 
of  Mr.  Sampson;  and  the  tears  of  Sir  Edward  O'Brien,  were 
alternately  the  subjects  of  merriment.  Mr.  Whyte  was  then 
called  upon  for  an  imitation  of  the  Sheriff,  Avhen  he  used  to 
ride  upon  an  elephant  at  Calcutta.  But  in  the  midst  of  this 
conviviality,  which  was  heightened  by  the  consciousness  that 
there  was  no  bill  to  be  paid  by  gentlemen  who  were  the  guests 
of  their  country,  and  long  before  any  inebriating  effect  was 
observable,  a  solemn  and  spectral  figure  used  to  stride  in,  like 
the  ghost  of  Hamlet,  and  the  same  deep,  churchyard  voice 
which  had  previously  startled  my  ears,  raised  its  awful  peal, 
while  it  exclaimed :  "  The  wolf,  the  wolf  is  on  the  walk ! 
Shepherds  of  the  people,  what  do  you  here?  Is  it  meet  that 
you  should  sit  carousing  and  in  joyance,  while  the  freeholders 
remain  unprovided,  and  temptation,  in  the  shape  of  famine,  is 
among  them?  Arise,  I  say,  arise  from  your  cups  —  the  wolf, 
the  wolf  is  on  the  walk  !" 

Such  was  the  disturbing  and  heart-appalling  adjuration  of 
Father  Murphy  of  Oorofin,  whose  enthusiastic  sense  of  duty 
never  deserted  him,  and  who,  when  the  feast  was  unfinished, 
entered  like  the  figure  of  Death  which  the  Egyptians  employed 
at  their  banquets.  He  walked  round  the  room  with  a  meas- 
ured pace,  like  the  envoy  of  another  world,  chasing  the  revel- 
lers before  him,  and  repeating  the  same  dismal  warning  — 
"The  wolf,  the  wolf  is  on  the  walk!"  Nothing  was  com- 
parable to  the  aspect  of  Father  Murphy  upon  these  occasions, 
except  the  physiognomy  of  Mr.  Lawless. 

This  gentleman,  who  had  been  usefully  exerting  himself 
during  the  whole  day,  somewhat  reasonably  expected  tliat  he 
should  be  permitted  to  enjoy  the  just  rewards  of  patriotism  for 
a  few  hours  without  any  nocturnal  molestation.  It  was  about 
the  time  that  he  had  just  commenced  his  second  tumbler,  and 
when  the  exhilarating  influence  of  his  eloquent  chalices  was 
beginning  to  display  itself,  that  the  dismal  cry  was  wont  to 
come  upon  him.  The  look  of  piteous  despair  with  which  he 
surveyed  this  unrelenting  foe  to  conviviality,  was  almost  as 
ghastly  at  that  of  his  merciless  disturber ;  and  as,  like  another 
Tantalus,  he  saw  the  draughts  of  pleasantness  hurled  away,  a 


302  CLAKE   ELECTION. 

Bchoolmaster,  wlio  sat  by  iiim,  and  who  "  was  abroad"  during 
the  election,  used  to  exclaim  :  — 

"  A  labrjs  sitiens  fugientia  capiat 

Flumina." 

It  was  in  vain  to  remonstrate  against  Father  Murphy,  who 
insisted  that  the  whole  company  should  go  forth  to  meet  "  the 
wolf  upon  the  walk." 

Upon  going  down  stairs,  the  lower  apartments  were  found 
thronged  with  freeholders  and  priests.  To  the  latter  had  been 
assigned  the  office  of  providing  food  for  such  of  the  peasants 
as  lived  at  too  great  a  distance  from  the  town  to  return  imme- 
diately home ;  and  each  clergyman  was  empowered  to  give 
an  order  to  the  victuallers  and  tavern-keepers  to  furnish  the 
bearer  with  a  certain  quantity  of  meat  and  beei  The  use  of 
wliiskey  was  forbidden. 

There  were  two  remarkable  features  observable  in  the  dis- 
charge of  this  office.  The  peasant,  who  had  not  tasted  food 
perhaps  for  twenty -four  hours,  remained  in  perfect  patience 
and  tranquillity  until  his  turn  arrived  to  speak  "  to  his  rever- 
ence;" and  the  Catholic  clergy  continued  with  unwearied 
assiduity  and  the  most  amiable  solicitude,  though  themselves 
quite  exhausted  with  fatigue,  in  the  performance  of  this  neces- 
sary labor.  There  they  stayed  until  a  late  hour  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  until  every  claimant  had  been  contented.  It  is  not 
wonderful  that  such  men,  animated  by  such  zeal,  and  operating 
upon  so  grateful  and  so  energetic  a  peasantry,  should  have 
effected  what  they  succeeded  in  accomplishing. 

The  poll  at  length  closed  ;  and,  after  an  excellent  argument 
delivered  by  the  assessor,  Mr.  Richard  Keatinge,  he  instructed 
the  Sheriff  to  return  Mr.  O'Connell  as  duly  elected.* 

*  The  result  of  this  election,  was  that  the  Duke  of  Wellington  (who  a  few 
months  previously  had  declared  that  "he  could  not  comprehend  the  possibility 
of  placing  Roman  Catholics  in  a  Protestant  legislature  with  any  kind  of  safety, 
and  whose  personal  knowledge  told  him,  that  no  King,  however  Catholic, 
could  govern  his  Catholic  subjects  without  the  aid  of  the  Pope")  became  con- 
vinced that  the  choice  lay  between  Catholic  Emancipation  and  Civil  war.  Ho 
preferred  the  former,  for  which  the  repeal  of  the  Test  Act,  in  the  previous  year, 
had  prepared  the  English  mind.  On  the  5th  February,  1829,  the  King's  speech, 
at  the  op  ming  of  the  Session  recommended  the  suppression  of  the  Catholic 


ITS   RESULTS.  303 

The  Courthouse  was  again  crowded,  as  upon  the  first  day, 
and  Mr.  Fitzgerald  appeared  at  the  head  of  the  defeated  aris- 
tocracy. They  looked  profoundly  melancholy.  Mr.  Fitzgerald 
himself  did  not  affect  to  disguise  the  deep  pain  which  he  felt, 
but  preserved  that  gracefulness  and  perfect  good  temper  which 
had  characterized  him  during  the  contest,  and  which,  at  its 
close,  disarmed  hostility  of  all  its  rancor.  Mr.  O'Oonnell  made 
a  speech   distinguished  by  just  feeling  and  good  taste,  and 

Association,  and  the  subsequent  consideration  of  Catholic  disabilities,  with  a 
view  to  their  adjustment  and  removal.  At  the  instance  of  Mr.  Shell,  supported 
by  the  Catholic  Bishops,  the  Association  dissolved  itself.  Mr.  O'Connell,  who 
had  arrived  in  London,  to  take  his  seat  for  Clare,  as  a  Catholic  —  which  he 
contended  he  could  do  even  under  the  old  law  —  did  not  make  the  attempt,  fearful 
lest  it  should  embarrass  a  Government  determined,  however  tardily  and  by 
compulsion,  to  do  justice  to  Ireland.  The  Emancipation  BiU  became  the  law 
of  the  land,  after  much  angry  and  personal  discussion.  O'Connell  expected, 
as  did  the  public  at  large,  that  he  might  take  his  seat  under  the  new  law.  He 
presented  himself  at  the  bar  of  the  House  to  be  swom,  but  declining  to  take 
the  old  oath  (which  declared  the  Catholic  faith  to  be  idolatrous),  was  directed 
by  the  Speaker  to  withdraw.  A  motion  that  he  should  take  the  new  oaths, 
which  were  framed  for  the  relief  of  Catholics,  was  negatived  —  on  the  ground 
that  Mr.  O'Connell  was  elected  under  the  old  system.  He  was  then  heard  at 
the  bar  of  the  House,  where  he  claimed  his  right  to  sit  and  vote,  under  the  Act 
of  Union  as  well  as  under  the  new  Relief  Bill.  When  the  form  of  oath  was 
again  handed  to  him,  he  again  refused  to  take  it,  saying  that  it  contained  one 
assertion  which  he  knew  to  be  not  true,  and  another  which  he  believed  to  be 
false.  It  was  decided  that  he  should  not  sit  without  taking  the  objectionable  oath 
—  thus  making  the  Emancipation  Act  have  an  ex  post  facto  operation.  A  new 
writ  was  issued  for  Clare.  O'Connell  again  presented  himself,  and  was  again 
elected  —  though  a  certain  Mr.  Toby  Glascock  started  from  Dublin  to  oppose 
him,  but  did  not  reach  Ennis  until  the  election  was  over.  On  this  re-election 
O'Connell  took  his  seat,  under  the  new  act,  and  it  was  felt,  even  by  the  bulk 
of  their  partisans,  that  Ministers  had  done  wrong  to  him,  insult  to  his  constitu- 
ents, and  injury  to  themselves,  by  refusing  to  extend  the  privileges  of  their  owTi 
statute  to  Mr.  O'Connell.  It  was  a  strange  way  to  conciliate  him,  and  they 
soon  felt  his  power.  Such  a  man,  then  virtually  representing  five  millions  of 
Irish  Catholics,  and  endowed  with  rare  talents,  as  an  orator  and  a  lawyer, 
speedily  found  his  level  in  Parliament  —  and  that  was  with  the  ablest  and  the 
most  influential.  Smarting  under  the  sense  of  wrong,  in  this  instance  of  asking 
him  to  swear  an  oath  which  the  Legislature  had  just  abrogated,  it  was  oidy 
natural,  when  the  opportunity  came,  that  O'Connell  should  be  found  vehement 
and  strong  against  Wellington  and  Peel.  They  had  sowed  the  wind  and  h#« 
made  them  reap  the  whirlwind. —  M, 


30tlr  CLARE   ELECTION. 

begged  that  Mr.  Fitzgerald  would  forgive  him,  if  he  had  upon 
the  first  day  given  him  any  sort  of  offence.  Mr.  Fitzgerald 
came  forward  and  unaffectedly  assured  him  that  whatever  was 
&aid  should  be  forgotten.  He  was  again  hailed  with  universal 
acclamation,  and  delivered  a  speech  which  could  not  surpass, 
in  good  judgment  and  persuasiveness,  that  with  which  he  had 
opened  the  contest,  but  was  not  inferior  to  it.  He  left  an 
impression,  which  hereafter  will,  in  all  probability,  render  his 
return  for  the  County  of  Clare  a  matter  of  certainty ;  and, 
upon  the  other  hand,  I  feel  convinced  that  he  has  himself  car- 
ried away  from  the  scene  of  that  contention  —  in  which  he  sus- 
tained a  defeat,  but  lost  no  honor — a  conviction  that  not  only 
the  interests  of  Ireland,  but  the  safety  of  the  empire,  require 
that  the  claims  of  seven  millions  of  his  fellow-citizens  should 
be  conceded.  Mr.  Fitzgerald,  during  the  progress  of  the  elec- 
tion, could  not  refrain  from  repeatedly  intimating  his  astonish- 
ment at  what  he  saw,  and  from  indalging  in  melancholy  fore- 
bodings of  the  events,  of  which  t'aese  incidents  are  perhaps 
but  the  heralds.  To  do  him  justi?*,e,  he  appeared  at  moments 
utterly  to  forget  himself,  and  to  ba  absorbed  in  the  melancholy 
presages  which  pressed  themselves  upon  him.  "  Where  is  all 
this  to  end  ?"  was  a  question  frequently  put  in  his  presence, 
and  from  which  he  seemed  to  shrink. 

At  the  close  of  the  poll,  Mr.  Sheil  delivered  a  speech,  in 
which  the  views  of  the  writer  of  this  article  were  expressed ; 
and  as  no  faithful  account  of  what  he  said  upon  that  occasion 
appeared  in  the  London  papers,  an  extract  from  his  observa- 
tions will  be  justified,  not  by  any  m.erit  in  the  composition  as 
a  piece  of  oratory,  but  by  the  sentiments  of  the  speaker,  which 
appear  to  me  to  be  just,  and  were  suggested  by  the  scenes  in 
which  he  had  taken  a  part.  The  importance  of  the  subject 
may  give  a  claim  to  attention,  which  in  other  instances  the 
speaker  may  not  be  entitled  to  command.  He  spoke  in  the 
following  terms  :  — 

"  I  own  that  I  am  anxious  to  avail  myself  of  this  opportu- 
nity to  make  reparation  to  Mr.  Fitzgerald.  Before  I  had  the 
honor  of  hearing  that  gentleman,  and  of  witnessing  the  mild 
and  conciliatory  demeanor  by  which  he  is  distinguished,  I  had 


sheil's  speech.  305 

in  another  place  expressed  myself  with  regard  to  his  political 
conduct,  in  language  to  which  I  believe  that  Mr.  Fitzgerald 
referred  upon  the  first  day  of  the  election,  and  which  was,  per- 
haps, too  deeply  tinctured  with  that  virulence  which  is  almost 
inseparable  from  the  passions  by  which  this  country  is  so 
unhappily  divided.  It  is  but  an  act  of  justice  to  Mr.  Fitzgerald 
to  say,  that,  however  we  may  be  under  the  necessity  of  op- 
posing him  as  a  Member  of  an  Administration  hostile  to  our 
body,  it  is  impossible  to  entertain  toAvard  him  a  sentiment  of 
individual  animosity ;  and  I  confess  that,  after  having  observed 
the  admirable  temper  with  which  he  encountered  his  antag- 
onists, I  can  not  but  regret  that,  before  I  had  the  means  of 
forming  a  just  estimate  of  his  personal  character,  I  should  have 
indulged  in  remarks  in  which  too  much  acidity  may  have 
been  infused. 

"  The  situation  in  which  Mr  Fitzgerald  was  placed  was 
peculiarly  trying  to  his  feelings.  He  had  been  long  in  pos- 
session of  this  County.  Though  we  considered  him  as  an 
inefficient  friend,  we  were  not  entitled  to  account  him  as  an 
opponent.  Under  these  circumstances,  it  may  have  appeared 
harsh,  and  perhaps  unkind,  that  we  should  have  selected  him 
as  the  first  object  for  the  manifestation  of  our  power;  another 
would  have  found  it  difficult  not  to  give  way  to  the  language 
of  resentment  and  of  reproach  ;  but,  so  far  from  doing  so,  his 
defence  of  himself  was  as  strongly  marked  by  forbearance  as 
it  was  by  ability.  I  thought  it,  however,  not  altogether  impos 
sible  that,  before  the  fate  of  this  election  was  decided.  Mi, 
Fitzgerald  might  have  been  merely  practising  an  expedient 
of  wily  conciliation,  and  that,  when  he  appeared  so  meek  and 
self-controlled  in  the  midst  of  a  contest  which  would  have  pro- 
voked the  passions  of  any  ordinary  man,  he  was  only  stifling 
his  resentment,  in  the  hope  that  he  might  succeed  in  appeasing 
the  violence  of  the  opposition  with  which  he  had  to  contend. 
But  Mr.  Fitzgerald,  in  the  demeanor  which  he  has  preserved 
to-day,  after  the  election  has  concluded  with  his  defeat,  has 
given  proof  that  his  gentleness  of  deportment  was  not  affected 
and  artificial ;  and,  now  that  he  has  no  object  to  gain,  we  can 
not  but  give  him  as  ample  credit  for  his  sincerity,  as  we  must 


306  CLARE   ELECTION. 

give  him  for  that  persuasive  gracefulness  by  which  his  man- 
ners are  distinguished.  Justly  has  he  said  that  he  has  not 
lost  a  friend  in  this  country;  and  he  might  have  added,  that, 
so  far  from  having  incurred  any  diminution  of  regard  among 
those  who  were  attached  to  him,  he  has  appeased,  to  a  great 
extent,  the  vehemence  of  that  political  enmity  in  which  the 
associate  of  Mr.  Peel  was  not  very  unnaturally  held. 

"  But,  Sir,  while  I  have  thus  made  the  acknowledgment 
which  was  due  to  Mr.  Fitzgerald,  let  me  not  disguise  my  own 
feelings  of  legitimate,  but  not,  I  hope,  offensive  exultation,  at 
the  result  of  this  great  contest,  that  has  attracted  the  attention 
of  the  English  people  beyond  all  example.  I  am  not  mean 
enough  to  indulge  in  any  contumelious  vaunting  over  one  who 
has  sustained  his  defeat  with  so  honorable  a  magnanimity. 
The  victory  which  has  been  achieved  has  been  obtained,  not 
so  much  over  Mr.  Fitzgerald,  as  over  the  faction  with  which  I 
excuse  him,  to  a  great  extent,  for  having  been  allied.  A  great 
display  of  power  has  been  made  by  the  Catholic  Association, 
and  that  manifestation  of  its  influence  over  the  national  mind 
I  regard  as  not  only  a  very  remarkable,  but  a  very  momentous 
incident.  Let  us  consider  what  has  taken  place,  in  order  that 
we  may  see  this  singular  political  phenomenon  in  its  just  light. 
It  is  right  that  we  attentively  survey  the  extraordinary  facts 
before  us,  in  order  that  we  may  derive  from  them  the  moral 
admonitions  which  they  are  calculated  to  supply.  "What  then 
has  happened  1  Mr.  Fitzgerald  was  promoted  to  a  place  in 
the  Duke  of  Wellington's  councils,  and  the  representation  of 
this  great  County  became  vacant.  The  Catholic  Association 
determined  to  oppose  him,  and  at  first  view  the  undertaking 
seemed  to  be  desperate.  Not  a  single  Protestant  gentleman 
could  be  procured  to  enter  the  lists,  and,  in  the  want  of  any 
other  candidate,  Mr.  O'Connell  stood  forward  on  behalf  of  the 
people.  Mr.  Vesey  Fitzgerald  came  into  the  field  encom- 
passed with  the  most  signal  advantages.  His  father  is  a  gen- 
tleman of  large  estate,  and  had  been  long  and  deservedly 
popular  in  Ireland.  Mr.  Fitzgerald  himself,  inheriting  a  por- 
tion of  the  popular  favor  with  a  favorite  name,  had  for  twenty 
years  been  placed  in  such  immediate  contiguity  with  power, 


sheil's  speech.  307 

that  lie  was  enabled  to  circulate  a  large  portion  of  the  influ- 
ence of  Government  through  this  fortunate  district.  There  is 
scarcely  a  single  family  of  any  significance  among  you  which 
does  not  labor  under  Mr.  Fitzgerald's  obligations.  At  this 
moment  it  is  only  necessary  to  look  at  him,  with  the  array  of 
aristocracy  beside  him,  in  order  to  perceive  upon  what  a  high 
position  for  victory  he  was  placed.  He  stands  encompassed 
by  the  whole  gentry  of  the  County  of  Clare,  who,  as  they 
stood  by  him  in  the  hour  of  battle,  come  here  to  cover  his 
retreat.  Almost  every  gentleman  of  rank  and  fortune  appears 
as  his  auxiliary;  and  the  gentry,  by  their  aspect  at  this  instant, 
as  well  as  by  their  devotedness  during  the  election,  furnish  evi- 
dence that  in  his  person  their  own  cause  was  to  be  asserted. 

"To  this  combination  of  favorable  circumstances  —  to  the 
promising  friend,  to  the  accomplished  gentleman,  to  the  elo- 
quent advocate,  at  the  head  of  all  the  patrician  opulence  of 
the  county,  what  did  we  oppose  ?  We  opposed  the  power  of 
the  Catholic  Association,  and  with  that  tremendous  engine  we 
have  beaten  the  Cabinet  Minister,  and  the  phalanx  of  aris- 
tocracy by  which  he  is  surrounded,  to  the  ground.  Why  do  I 
mention  these  things  ?  Is  it  for  the  purpose  (God  forbid  that 
it  should)  of  wounding  the  feelings  or  exasperating  the  passions 
of  any  man  1  No  !  but  in  order  to  exhibit  the  almost  marvel- 
lous incidents  which  have  taken  place,  in  the  light  in  which 
they  ought  to  be  regarded,  and  to  present  them  in  all  their 
appalling  magnitude.  Protestants  who  hear  me,  gentlemen 
of  the  county  Clare,  you  whom  I  address  with  boldness,  per- 
haps, but  certainly  not  with  any  purpose  to  give  you  offence, 
let  me  entreat  your  attention.  A  baronet  of  rank  and  fortune, 
Sir  Edward  O'Brien,  has  asked  whether  this  was  a  condition 
of  things  to  be  endured ;  he  has  expatiated  upon  the  extraor- 
dinary influence  which  has  been  exercised  in  order  to  effect 
these  signal  results  ;  and,  after  dwelling  upon  many  other 
grounds  of  complaint,  he  has  with  great  force  inveighed  against 
the  severance  which  we  have  created  between  the  landlord  and 
tenant. 

"  Let  it  not  be  imagined  that  I  mean  to  deny  that  we  have 
liad  recourse  to  the  expedients  attributed  to  us ;  on  the  con- 


308  CLAKE    ELECTION. 

traiy,  I  avow  it.  We  liave  put  a  great  engine  into  action, 
and  applied  the  entire  force  of  that  powerful  machinery  which 
the  law  has  placed  under  our  control.  We  are  masters  of  the 
passions  of  the  people,  and  we  have  employed  our  dominion 
with  a  terrible  effect.  But,  sir,  do  you,  or  any  man  here,  im- 
agine that  we  could  have  acquired  this  dreadful  ability  to  sun- 
der the  strongest  ties  by  which  the  different  classes  of  society 
are  fastened,  unless  we  found  the  materials  of  excitement  in 
the  state  of  society  itself?  Do  you  think  that  Mr.  Daniel 
O'Connell  has  himself,  and  by  the  single  powers  of  his  own 
mind,  unaided  by  any  external  co-operation,  brought  the  coun- 
try to  this  great  crisis  of  agitation  1  Mr.  O'Connell,  with  all  his 
talents  for  excitation,  would  have  been  utterly  powerless  and 
incapable,  unless  he  had  been  allied  M^ith  a  great  conspirator 
against  the  public  peace ;  and  I  will  tell  you  who  that  con- 
federate is  —  it  is  the  law  of  the  land  itself  that  has  been  Mr. 
O'Connell's  main  associate,  and  that  ought  to  be  denounced 
as  the  mighty  agitator  of  Ireland.  The  rod  of  oppression  is 
the  wand  of  this  potent  enchanter  of  the  passions,  and  the 
book  of  his  spells  is  the  Penal  Code.*     Break  the  wand  of  this 

*  It  would  swell  these  notes  out  of  all  proportion  to  attempt  the  biograpliies 
of  such  men  as  the  Duke  of  Wellington.  He  was  in  the  Irish  Parliament  in  1790, 
and  voted  for  the  extension  of  civil  rights  to  the  Catholics.  The  year  after 
his  return  from  India  (in  1806),  he  was  appointed  Irish  Secretaiy  (his  eldest 
son,  the  present  Duke,  was  born,  in  Dublin,  in  1807),  and  did  not  resign  that 
office  until  1809,  when  his  active  service  in  the  Peninsula  sufficiently  occupied 
all  his  attention.  When  the  war  was  ended,  and  the  great  soldier  had  to  lay 
aside  his  sword,  he  adopted  the  Anti-Catholic  views  of  the  civilians  with  whom 
he  was  associated  in  the  Government  of  the  country.  The  result  of  Clare  Elec- 
tion in  1828,  showed  him  that  concession  or  civil  war  must  ensue,  and  he 
wisely  adopted  the  former.     Thomas  Moore,  who  knew  that 

"  Peace  hath  her  victories,  no  less  than  W^ar," 
introduced  into  one  of  his  Irish  Melodies,  an  address  to  Wellington,  as  pro- 
phetic as  poetical : — 

"  And  still  the  last  crown  of  thy  toils  is  remaining, 
The  grandest,  the  purest,  even  thou  hast  yet  known ; 
Though  proud  was  thy  task,  other  nations  unchaining, 
Far  prouder  to  heal  the  deep  wounds  of  thy  own. 
At  the  foot  of  that  throne,  for  whose  weal  thou  hast  stood, 
Go,  plead  for  the  land  that  first  cradled  thy  fame." 
Although  he  granted  what  they  desired,  the  Irish  Catholics  had  little  regard 


ME.  sheil's  speech.  309 

political  Prospero,  and  take  from  him  the  volume  of  his  magic, 
and  he  will  evoke  the  spirits  which  are  now  under  his  control 
no  longer.  But  why  should  I  have  recourse  to  illustration 
which  may  be  accounted  fantastical,  in  order  to  elucidate  what 
is  in  itself  so  plain  and  obvious  ? 

"  Protestant  gentlemen,  who  do  me  the  honor  to  listen  to  me, 
look,  I  pray  you,  a  little  dispassionately  at  the  real  causes  of 
the  events  which  have  taken  place  among  you.  I  beg  of  you  to 
put  aside  your  angry  feelings  for  an  instant,  and  believe  me 
that  I  am  far  from  thinking  that  you  have  no  good  ground  for 
resentment.  It  must  be  most  painful  to  the  proprietors  of  this 
county  to  be  stripped  in  an  instant  of  all  their  influence ;  to 
be  left  destitute  of  all  sort  of  sway  over  their  dependents,  and 
to  see  a  few  demagogues  and  priests  usurping  their  natural 
authority.  This  feeling  of  resentment  must  be  aggravated  by 
the  consciousness  that  they  have  not  deserved  such  a  return 
from  their  tenants ;  and  as  I  know  Sir  Edward  O'Brien  to  be 
a  truly  benevolent  landlord,  I  can  well  conceive  that  the  ap- 
parent ingratitude  with  which  he  was  treated,  has  added  to 
the  pain  which  every  landlord  must  experience ;  and  I  own 
that  I  was  not  surprised  to  see  tears  bursting  at  his  eyes,  while 
his  face  was  inflamed  with  the  emotion*  to  which  it  was  not  in 
human  nature  that  he  should  not  give  way.  But  let  Sir  Ed- 
ward O'Brien  and  his  fellow-proprietors,  who  are  gathered 
about  him,  recollect  that  the  facility  and  promptitude  with 
which  the  peasantry  have  thrown  oif  their  allegiance,  are  ow- 
ing not  so  much  to  any  want  of  just  moral  feeling  on  the  part 
of  the  people,  as  to  the  operation  of  causes  for  which  the  peo- 

for  "The  Duke."  They  had  got  an  idea  that  he  had  denied  that  he  was  an 
Irishman,  and  this  was  strengthened,  in  1821,  by  his  not  accompanying-  George 
IV.  on  his  visit  to  Ireland.  The  Duke  of  Wellington  died,  September  14,  1852, 
aged  eighty-three.- — It  may  be  worth  mentioning  that  shortly  before  his  death, 
when  the  comparative  merits  of  modern  generals  were  discussed,  the  Duke 
said,  "  The  greatest  man  of  the  lot,  is  Zachary  Taylor,  the  American.  In  sight 
of  the  Mexicans,  who  had  a  vast  svperiority  of  men  and  artillery,  he  held  a 
council  of  war,  and  the  general  ojiini  ^n  was  that  he  should  not  risk  a  contest. 
'Gentlemen,'  said  Taylor,  'I  adjourn  this  council,  until  tomonoW  —  after  tlie 
battle.''  He  won  the  battle  against  immense  odds,  and  had  great  courage  to 
run  the  risk,  ajraiust  advice.      Thai  was  a  true  commander." — M. 


310  CLARE   ELECTION. 

pie  are  not  to  blame.  In  no  other  coiuitry,  except  in  tliis, 
would  such  a  revolution  have  been  effected.  Wherefore?  — 
Because  in  no  other  country  are  the  people  divided  by  the  law 
from  their  superiors,  and  cast  into  the  hands  of  a  set  of  men, 
who  are  supplied  with  the  means  of  national  excitement  by 
the  system  of  government  under  which  we  live. 

"  Surely  no  man  can  believe  that  such  an  anomalous  body  as 
the  Catholic  Association  could  exist,  excepting  in  a  commu- 
nity which  had  been  alienated  from  the  state  by  the  state  itself. 
The  discontent  and  the  resentment  of  seven  millions  of  the 
population  have  generated  that  domestic  government,  which 
sways  through  the  force  of  public  opinion,  and  uses  the  na- 
tional passions  as  the  instruments  for  the  execution  of  its  will. 
From  that  body  there  has  now  been  issuing,  for  many  years, 
a  continuous  supply  of  exciting  matter,  which  has  overflowed 
the  nation's  mind.  The  lava  has  covered  and  inundated  the 
whole  country,  and  is  still  flowing,  and  will  continue  to  flow, 
from  its  volcanic  source.  But,  if  I  may  so  say,  the  Associa- 
tion is  but  the  crater  in  which  the  fiery  matter  finds  a  vent, 
while  its  fountain  is  in  the  depth  of  the  law  itself.  It  would 
be  utterly  impossible,  if  all  men  were  placed  upon  an  equality 
of  citizenship,  and  there  was  no  exasperating  distinctions 
among  us,  to  create  any  artificial  causes  of  discontent.  Let 
men  declaim  for  a  century  with  far  higher  powers  than  any 
Catholic  agitator  is  endowed  with,  and  if  they  have  no  real 
ground  of  public  grievance  to  rest  upon,  their  harangues  will 
be  empty  sound  and  idle  air.  But  Avhen  what  they  tell  the 
people  is  true  —  when  they  are  sustained  by  substantial  facts, 
then  effects  are  produced,  of  which  what  has  taken  place  at 
this  election  is  only  an  example.  The  whole  body  of  the  peo- 
ple being  previously  inflamed  and  rendered  susceptible,  the 
moment  any  incident,  such  as  this  election,  occurs,  all  the 
popular  passions  start  simultaneously  up,  and  bear,  down  every 
obstacle  before  them.  Do  not,  therefore,  be  surprised  that  the 
peasantry  should  thus  at  once  throw  off  their  allegiance  to  you, 
when  they  are  under  the  operation  of  emotions  which  it  would 
be  wonderful  if  they  could  resist.  The  feeling  by  which  they 
are  now  actuated^  would  make  them  not  only  vote  against 


MK.  sheil's  speech.  311 

their  landlords,  but  would  make  tliem  rush  into  the  field,  scale 
the  batteries  of  a  fortress,  and  mount  the  breach  ;  and,  gentle- 
men, give  me  leave  now  to  ask  you,  whether,  after  a  due  re- 
flection upon  the  motives  by  which  your  vassals  (for  so  they 
are  accounted)  are  governed,  you  will  be  disposed  to  exercise 
any  measure  of  severity  in  their  regard  ? 

"  I  hear  it  said,  that  before  many  days  go  by,  there  will  be 
many  tears  shed  in  the  hovels  of  your  slaves,  and  that  you 
will  take  a  terrible  vengeance  of  their  treason.  I  trust  in  God 
that  you  will  not,  when  your  own  passions  have  subsided,  and 
your  blood  has  had  to  cool,  persevere  in  such  a  cruel,  and,  let 
me  add,  such  an  unjustifiable  determination.  Consider,  gen- 
tlemen, whether  a  great  allowance  should  not  be  made  for  the 
offence  which  they  have  committed.  If  they  are,  as  you  say 
they  are,  under  the  influence  of  fanaticism,  I  would  say  to 
you,  that  such  an  influence  affords  many  circumstances  of  ex- 
tenuation, and  that  you  should  forgive  them,  *for  they  know 
not  what  they  do.'  They  have  followed  their  priests  to  the 
hustings,  and  they  Avould  follow  them  to  the  scaffold.  But 
you  will  ask,  wherefore  should  they  prefer  their  priests  to 
their  landlords,  and  have  purer  reverence  for  the  altars  of  their 
religion,  than  for  the  counter  in  Avhich  you  calculate  your 
rents  1  Ah,  gentlemen,  consider  a  little  the  relation  in  which 
the  priest  stands  toAvard  the  peasant.  Let  us  put  the  priest 
into  one  scale,  and  the  landlord  into  the  other,  and  let  us  see 
which  should  preponderate  1 

'*  I  will  take  an  excellent  landlord  and  an  excellent  priest. 
The  landlord  shall  be  Sir  Edward  O'Brien,  and  the  priest 
shall  be  Mr.  Murphy  of  Oorofin.  Who  is  Sir  EdAvard  O'Brien  ? 
A  gentleman  who  has  a  great  fortune,  who  liA^es  in  a  splendid 
mansion,  and  who,  from  the  windoAvs  of  a  palace,  looks  upon 
possessions  almost  as  Avide  as  those  which  his  ancestors  beheld 
from  the  summit  of  their  feudal  towers.  His  tenants  pay  him 
their  rent  twice  a-year,  and  they  have  their  land  at  a  moder- 
ate rate.  So  much  for  the  landlord.  I  now  come  to  Father 
Murphy  of  Oorofin.  Wliere  does  he  reside?  In  an  humble 
abode,  situated  at  the  foot  of  a  mountain,  and  in  the  midst  of 
dreariness  and  waste.     He  dwells  in  the  midst  of  his  parish- 


312  CLARE   ELECTION. 

ioners,  and  is  their  benefactor,  tlieir  friend,  their  father.  It  is 
not  only  in  the  actual  ministry  of  the  sacraments  of  religion 
that  he  stands  as  an  object  of  affectionate  reverence  among 
them.  I  saw  him,  indeed,  at  his  altar,  surrounded  by  thou- 
sands, and  felt  myself  the  influence  of  his  contagious  and  en- 
thusiastic devotion.  He  addressed  the  people  in  the  midst 
of  a  rude  edifice,  and  in  a  language  which  I  did  not  understand  ; 
but  I  could  perceive  what  a  command  he  has  over  the  minds 
of  his  devoted  followers.  But  it  is  not  merely  as  the  celebra- 
tor  of  the  rites  of  Divine  worship  that  he  is  dear  to  his  flock ; 
he  is  their  companion,  the  mitigator  of  their  calamities,  the 
soother  of  their  afflictions,  the  trustee  of  their  hearts,  the  re- 
pository of  their  secrets,  the  guardian  of  their  interests,  and 
the  sentinel  of  their  death-beds.  A  peasant  is  dying :  in  the 
midst  of  the  winter's  night,  a  knock  is  heard  at  the  door  of  the 
priest,  and  he  is  told  that  his  parishioner  requires  his  spiritual 
assistance  :  the  wind  is  howling,  the  snow  descends  upon  the 
hills,  and  the  rain  and  storm  beat  against  his  face ;  yet  he 
goes  forth,  hurries  to  the  hovel  of  the  expiring  Avi-etch,  and, 
taking  his  station  beside  the  mass  of  pestilence  of  which  the 
bed  of  straw  is  composed,  bends  to  receive  the  last  whisper 
which  unloads  the  heart  of  its  guilt,  though  the  lips  of  the  sin- 
ner should  be  tainted  with  disease,  and  he  should  exhale  mor- 
tality in  his  breath. 

"  Gentlemen,  this  is  not  the  language  of  artificial  declama- 
tion—  this  is  not  the  mere  extravagance  of  rhetorical  phrase. 
This,  every  word  of  this,  is  the  truth  —  the  notorious,  palpable, 
and  unquestionable  truth.  You  know  it,  every  one  of  you 
know  it  to  be  true;  and  now  let  me  ask  you  can  you  wonder 
for  a  moment  that  the  people  should  be  attached  to  their  clergy, 
and  should  follow  their  ordinances  as  if  they  were  the  injunc- 
tions of  God  ?  Gentlemen,  forgive  me,  if  I  venture  to  suppli- 
cate, on  behalf  of  your  poor  tenants,  for  mercy  to  them.  Par- 
don them,  in  the  name  of  that  God  who  will  forgive  you  your 
offences  in  the  same  measure  of  compassion  which  you  will 
show  to  the  trespasses  of  others.  Do  not,  in  the  name  of  that 
Heaven  before  whom  every  one  of  us,  whether  landlord,  priest, 
or  tenant,  must  at  last  appear — do  not  prosecute  these  poor 


MR.  sheil's  speech.  313 

people  :  don't  tlirow  their  children  out  upon  the  public  road  — 
don't  send  them  forth  to  starve,  to  shiver,  and  to  die ! 

"  For  God's  sake,  Mr.  Fitzgerald  and  for  your  own  sake, 
and  as  you  are  a  gentleman  and  a  man  of  honor,  interpose 
your  influence  with  your  friends,  and  redeem  your  pledge.  I 
address  myself  personally  to  you.  On  the  first  day  of  the  elec- 
tion you  declared  that  you  would  deprecate  all  persecution  by 
the  landlords,  and  that  you  were  the  last  to  wish  that  harsh 
and  vindictive  measures  should  be  employed.  I  believe  you ; 
and  now  I  call  upon  you  to  redeem  that  pledge  of  mercy,  to 
fulfil  that  noble  engagement,  to  perform  that  great  moral  prom- 
ise. You  will  cover  yourself  with  honor  by  so  doing,  in  the 
same  way  that  you  will  share  in  the  ignominy  that  will  attend 
upon  any  expedients  of  rigor.  Before  you  leave  this  country 
to  assume  your  high  functions,  employ  yourself  diligently  in 
this  work  of  benevolence,  and  enjoin  your  friends,  with  that 
eloquence  of  which  you  are  the  master,  to  refrain  from  cruelty, 
and  not  to  oppress  their  tenants.  Tell  them,  sir,  that  instead 
of  busying  themselves  in  the  worthless  occupation  of  revenge, 
it  is  much  fitter  that  they  should  take  the  political  condition 
of  their  country  into  their  deep  consideration.  Tell  them  that 
they  should  address  themselves  to  the  Legislature,  and  implore 
a,  remedy  for  these  frightful  evils.  Tell  them  to  call  upon  the 
men,  in  whose  hands  the  destiny  of  this  great  empire  is  placed, 
to  adopt  a  system-  of  conciliation  and  of  peace,  and  to  apply 
to  Ireland  the  great  canon  of  political  morality  which  has 
been  so  powerfully  expressed  by  the  poet — ^  Fads  imponere 
morem.''  Our  manners,  our  habits,  our  laws,  must  be  changed. 
The  evil  is  to  be  plucked  out  at  the  root.  The  cancer  must 
be  cut  out  of  the  breast  of  the  country.  Let  it  not  be  imagined 
that  any  measure  of  disfranchisement,  that  any  additional 
penalty,  will  afford  a  remedy.  Things  have  been  permitted  to 
advance  to  a  height  from  which  they  can  not  be  driven  back, 

"  Protestants,  awake  to  a  sense  of  your  condition.  Look 
round  you.  What  have  you  seen  during  this  election  ?  Enough 
to  make  you  feel  that  this  is  not  mere  local  excitation,  but  that 
seven  millions  of  Irish  people  are  completely  arrayed  and  or- 
ganized.    That  which  you  behold  in  Clare,  you  would  behold, 

Vol.  II.— 14 


314  CLARE   ELECTION. 

under  similar  circumstances,  in  every  county  in  the  kingdom. 
Did  you  mark  our  discipline,  our  subordination,  our  good  order, 
and  that  prophetic  tranquillity  which  is  far  more  terrible  than 
any  ordinary  storm  ?  You  have  seen  sixty  thousand  men  un- 
der our  command,  and  not  a  hand  was  raised,  and  not  a  forbid- 
den word  was  uttered,  in  that  amazing  multitude.  You  have 
beheld  an  example  of  our  power  in  the  almost  miraculous  so- 
briety of  the  people.  Their  lips  have  not  touched  that  infu- 
riating beverage  to  which  they  are  so  much  attached,  and  their 
habitual  propensity  vanished  at  our  command.  What  think 
you  of  all  this  t  Is  it  meet  and  wise  to  leave  us  armed  w;ith 
such  a  dominion  1  Trust  us  not  with  it ;  strip  us  of  this  appal- 
ling despotism;  annihilate  us  by  concession;  extinguish  us 
with  peace ;  disarray  us  by  equality ;  instead  of  angry  slaves, 
make  us  contented  citizens :  if  you  do  not,  tremble  for  the 
result !" 


THE  PENENDEN  HEATH  MEETING. 

Anxious  to  witness  the  great  assembly  of  "  the  men  of  Kent," 
of  which  the  High-Sheriff  had  called  a  meeting  (having  ap- 
pointed twelve  o'clock  upon  Friday  the  24th  for  the  immense 
gathering),  I  proceeded  from  Rochester  to  Maidstone  at  an 
early  hour.*     Upon  my  way,  I  saw  the  evidences  of  prodigious 

*  The  Repeal  of  the  Test  and  Corporation  Acts,  early  in  1828,  with  little 
more  than  a  shadow  of  resistance  from  the  Wellington  Ministiy,  was  a  sort  of 
political  "  writing  on  the  wall,"  to  the  Protestant  Ascendency  people  throughout 
the  United  Kingdom.  To  check  any  further  concessions,  particularly  as  the 
Catholics  had  more  and  juster  claims  than  the  Dissenters,  it  was  resolved  to 
establish  Brunswick  Clubs,  which  were  practically  much  the  same,  mmus  the 
secret  oaths  and  obligations,  as  the  Orange  Lodges,  put  down  by  a  prohibitory 
and  penal  statute  in  1825.  The  Duke  of  Cumberland  (brother  of  the  reigning 
sovereign)  was  the  patron  of  these  associations,  and  Lords  Winchilsea,  Ken- 
yon,  and  other  persons  of  rank  and  property,  were  openly  members.  Clare 
Election,  ending  July  5,  1828,  on  the  victory  of  O'Connell,  a  Catholic,  excited 
the  anger  and  apprehension  of  these  ultra-Protestant  agitators,  who  determined 
to  hold  public  meetings,  in  defence  of  Protestant  Ascendency  in  all  the  English 
counties.  The  first  of  these  came  off  in  Kent,  on  the  24th  of  October,  1828, 
on  Penenden  Heath,  and  from  twenty  thousand  to  thirty  thousand  persons  were 
present.  Mr.  Shell,  whose  graphic  description  brings  the  scene  before  us,  hap- 
pened in  London  when  the  meeting  was  about  taking  place,  and  several  friends 
of  civil  and  religious  liberty  strongly  pressed  him  to  attend,  as  a  speaker,  con- 
fident that  he  might  thereby  advance  the  cause  which  they  had  at  heart.  He 
consented,  prepared  a  long  and  elaborate  speech,  obtained  the  small  landed 
qualification  requisite  to  allow  him  to  address  the  meeting  as  a  fi-eeholder,  and 
proceeded  to  Penenden  Heath,  where  the  clamor  was  so  great  that  he  could 
utter  only  a  few  sentences,  though  what  he  intended  to  say  was  printed,  and 
distributed  fiu*  and  wide.  The  Penenden  Heath  Meeting,  however,  did  not 
encourage  similar  attempts  elsewhere,  and  Protestant  Ascendency  made  no  fur- 
tiier  public  display  until  February,  1829,  when  Catholic  Emancipation  was  pro- 
posed as  a  Government  measure. —  The  newspapers  of  Uie  day  amused  them* 


316  PENENDEN  HEATH  MEETING. 

exertion  to  call  the  yeomanry  together,  and  from  the  summit 
of  a  hill  that  surmounts  a  beautiful  valley  near  Maidstone,  I 
beheld  a  long  array  of  wagons  moving  slowly  toward  the  spot 
which  had  been  fixed  by  the  High-Sheriff  for  the  meeting. 
The  morning  was  peculiarly  fine  and  bright,  and  had  a  rem- 
nant of  "  summer's  lingering  bloom  ;"  and  the  eye,  through  the 
pure  air,  and  from  the  elevated  spot  on  which  I  paused  to  sur- 
vey the  landscape,  traversed  an  immense  and  glorious  pros- 
pect. The  fertile  county  of  Kent,  covered  with  all  the  profu- 
sion of  English  luxury,  and  exhibiting  a  noble  spectacle  of 
agricultural  opulence,  was  before  me  ;  under  any  circumstances 
the  scene  would  have  attracted  my  attention,  but,  upon  the 
occasion  on  which  I  now  beheld  it,  it  was  accompanied  by  cir- 
cumstances which  greatly  added  to  its  influence,  and  lent  to 
the  beauty  of  nature  a  sort  of  moral  picturesque.  The  whole 
population  of  an  immense  district  seemed  to  have  swarmed 
from  their  towns  and  cottages,  and  filled  4he  roads  and  ave- 
nues which  led  to  the  great  place  of  political  rendezvous.  In 
the  distance  lay  Penenden  Heath;  and  I  could  perceive  that, 
long  before  the  hour  appointed  by  the  Sheriff  for  the  meeting, 
large  masses  had  assembled  upon  the  field,  where  the  struggle 
between  the  two  contending  parties  was  to  be  carried  on. 

After  looking  upon  this  extraordinary  spectacle,  I  proceeded 
on  my  journey.  I  passed  many  of  "  the  men  of  Kent,"  who 
were  going  on  foot  to  the  meeting  ;*  but  the  great  majority 
were  conveyed  in  those  ponderous  teams  which  are  used  for 
the  purposes  of  conveying  agricultural  produce :  and,  indeed, 
"  the  men  of  Kent,"  who  were  packed  up  in  those  vehicles, 
seemed  almost  as  unconscious  as  the  ordinary  burdens  with 
which  their  heavy  vehicles  are  laden.  The  wagons  went  on 
in  their  dull  and  monotonous  rotation,  filled  with  human  beings, 

selves  with  ridiculing  Mr.  Sheil's  printed  but  unspoken  oration ;  the  public, 
hovvever,  perused  it  eagerly,  and  multitudes  of  copies  were  circulated  all  over 
the  Kingdom.  This  is  included  in  the  volume  of  Shell's  published  speeches, 
and  is  in  every  way  worthy  of  his  great  reputation  for  political  rhetoric. —  M. 

*  There  is  a  difference  between  Men  of  Kent  and  Kentish  men.  The  former 
are  locally  accounted  superior  to  the  latter.  A  Kentish  man,  is  a  native  of 
Kent  county,  born  north  of  the  river  Medway ;  a  "  Man  of  Kent"  comes  from 
the  district  south  of  that  river,  which  includes  two  thirds  of  that  county. —  M. 


THE   GATHEKING.  317 

whose  faces  presented  a  vacant  blank,  in  which  it  was  impos- 
sible to  trace  the  smallest  interest  or  emotion.  They  did  not 
exchange  a  word  with  each  other,  but  sat  in  their  wagons, 
with  a  half-sturdy  and  half-fatuitous  look  of  apathy,  listening 
to  the  sound  of  the  bells  which  were  attached  to  the  horses  by 
which  they  were  drawn,  and  as  careless  as  those  animals  of 
the  events  in  which  they  were  going  to  take  a  part.  It  wa3 
easy,  however,  to  perceive  to  which  faction  they  belonged ; 
for  poles  were  placed  in  each  of  these  wagons,  with  placards 
attached  to  them,  on  which  directions  were  given  to  the  loads 
of  freeholders  to  vote  for  their  respective  proprietors.  I  ex- 
pected to  have  seen  injunctions  to  vote  for  Emancipation,  or 
for  the  Constitution,  or  against  Popery  and  Slavery.  These 
ordinances  would,  in  all  likelihood,  have  been  above  the  com- 
prehension of  "the  men  of  Kent;"  and,  accordingly,  the  more 
intelligible  words,  "  Vote  for  Lord  Winchilsea,"  or  "  Vote  for 
Lord  Darnley,"*  were  inscribed  upon  the  placards. 

I  proceeded  to  my  place  of  destination,  and  reached  Penen- 
den  Heath.  It  is  a  gently-sloping  amphitheatrical  declivity, 
surrounded  with  gradually-ascending  elevations  of  highly-cul- 
tivated ground,  and  presenting  in  the  centre  a  wide  space, 
exceedingly  well  calculated  for  the  holding  of  a  great  popular 
assembly.  On  arriving,  I  found  a  great  multitude  assembled 
at  about  an  hour  before  the  meeting.  A  large  circle  was 
formed,  with  a  number  of  wagons  placed  in  close  junction  to 
each  other,  and  forming  an  area  capable  of  containing  several 
thousand  persons.  There  was  an  opening  in  the  spot  immedi- 
ately opposite  the  Sheriff  for  the  reception  of  the  people,  who 
were  pouring  into  the  enclosure,  and  had  already  formed  a 
dense  mass.  The  wagons  were  laden  with  the  better  class  of 
yeomen,  with  the  gentry  at  their  head.     A  sort  of  hustings  was 

*  John  Stuart  Bligh,  fourth  Earl  of  Darnley,  was  born  in  1767,  and  died  in 
1831.  In  1829,  he  claimed  the  Scottish  Dukedom  of  Lennox,  as  next  heir,  in 
default  of  male  issue  for  the  last  of  the  Stuarts.  Cardinal  York,  who  died  in 
1807  and  was  the  next-of-kin  (legitimate)  of  King  Charles  II.,  had  been 
duly  served  heir  to  the  peerage.  The  House  of  Lords  have  not  come  to  a  de- 
cision on  this  claim.  The  Darnley  property  in  Kent,  is  Chobhani  Hall,  neeir 
Gicivesend.  The  Earldom  is  Iiish,  but  its  holder  sits  in  the  Lords,  for  hig 
English  barony  of  Clifton. — M. 


318  PENENDEN   HEATH   MEETING. 

raised  for  tlie  Sheriff  and  bis  friends,  with  chairs  in  the  front, 
and  from  this  point  the  wagons  branched  off  in  two  wings — 
that  on  the  left  of  the  Sheriff  being  allotted  to  the  Protestant, 
and  the  right  having  been  appropriated  to  the  Catholic  party. 
The  wagons  bore  the  names  of  the  several  persons  to  whom 
they  belonged,  and  were  designated  as  "  Lord  Winchilsea's," 
or  "  Lord  Darnley's,"  or  as  "  The  Committee's,"  and  ensigns 
were  displayed  from  them  which  indicated  the  opinions  of  their 
respective  occupiers. 

The  moment  I  ascended  one  of  the  wagons,  where  all  per- 
sons were  indiscriminately  admitted,  I  saw  that  the  Protest- 
ants, as  they  called  themselves,  had  had  the  advantage  in 
preparation,  and  that  they  were  well  arrayed  and  disciplined. 
Of  this  the  effects  produced  by  Lord  Winchilsea's  arrival 
afforded  strong  proof;  for  the  moment  he  entered,  there  was  a 
simultaneous  waving  of  hats  by  his  party,  and  the  cheering 
Avas  so  well  ordered  and  regulated,  that  it  was  manifest  that 
every  movement  of  the  faction  was  preconcerted  and  arranged. 
The  appearance  of  Lord  Darnley,  of  Lord  Radnor,*  and  the 
other  leaders  of  the  Catholic  party,  was  not  hailed  with  the 
same  concurrence  of  applause  from  their  supporters ;  not  that 
the  latter  were  not  warmly  zealous,  but  that  they  had  not  been 
disciplined  with  the  same  care. 

I  anxiously  watched  for  the  coming  of  Cobbett  and  of  Hunt. 
I  not  only  desired  to  see  two  persons  of  whom  I  had  heard  so 
much,  but  to  ascertain  the  extent  of  their  influence  upon  the 
public  mind.  Cobbett,  I  understood,  had,  before  the  meeting 
took  place,  succeeded  in  throwing  discord  into  the  ranks  of  the 
liberal  party.  He  had  intimated  that  he  would  move  a  peti- 
tion against  tithes.  To  this  Lord  Darnley  vehemently  ob- 
jected, and  asked  very  reasonably  how  he  could,  as  a  peer  of 

*  William  Pleydell  Bouverie,  third  Earl  of  Radnor,  was  born  in  1779,  and 
sat  in  the  House  of  Commons,  from  an  early  age  until  1828.  He  was  known, 
as  a  Commoner,  by  his  courtesy  title  of  Viscount  Folkstone,  during  his  father's 
life.  He  took  a  leading  part,  in  1809,  in  the  investigation  of  the  charges 
against  the  late  Duke  of  York,  of  having  allowed  Mary  Anne  Clarke,  his  mistress, 
to  dispose  of  commissions  in  the  army,  by  her  influence.  Whither  in  the  Upper 
or  Lower  House,  the  speeches  and  votes  of  Lord  Radnor  have  generally  been 
in  aid  of  the  liberal  cause. —  M. 


WILLIAM   COBBETT.  319 

the  realm,  co-operate  in  sucli  a  proposal.  Several  others,  how- 
ever,, although  they  greatly  disapproved  of  Oobbett's  proposi- 
tion in  the  abstract,  were  disposed  to  support  any  expedient 
which  would  have  the  effect  of  extinguishing  the  Brunswick 
faction.  It  had  therefore  been  decided  first,  to  try  whether 
the  Brunswick  measure  could  not  be  got  rid  of  without  having 
recourse  to  any  substitute,  and,  in  the  event  of  failing  in  that 
course,  to  sustain  Cobbett's  amendment.  Cobbett  had  dined 
the  preceding  day  at  Maidstone,  with,  about  a  hundred  farmers, 
and  had  been  very  well  received.  He  there  gave  intimations 
of  his  intended  proposition  against  the  Ohm-ch.  His  friends 
said  that  he  had  devoted  great  care  to  his  petition,  and  that  he 
plumed  himself  upon  it.  I  thought  it  exceedingly  probable 
that  he  would  succeed  in  carrying  his  measure,  especially  as 
he  had  obtained  a  signal  triumph  at  a  meeting  connected  with 
the  Corn-Laws,  and  borne  down  the  gentry  before  him.  These 
anticipations  had  greatly  raised  my  curiosity  about  this  singu- 
lar person,  and  I  watched  the  effect  which  his  coming  should 
produce  with  some  solicitude. 

He  at  length  arrived.  Upon  his  entering  the  enclosure,  I 
heard  a  cry  of  "Cobbett,  Cobbett!"  and  turning  my  eyes  to 
the  spot  from  which  the  exclamation  came,  I  perceived  less 
sensation  than  I  had  expected  to  find.*     Some  twenty  of  the 

*  William  Cobbett,  son  of  a  small  fanner  in  Sussex,  was  bom  in  1762,  and 
enlisted  as  a  private  soldier,  when  he  was  about  two-and-twenty  years  old.  He 
was  sent  with  his  regiment  to  British  North  America ;  diligently  educated  him- 
self as  an  English  scholar ;  was  raised  by  his  good  conduct  to  the  rank  of  ser- 
geant-major; obtained  his  discharge  (with  good-service  certificate)  after  seven 
years'  service  ;  returned  to  England,  and  went  to  France  to  perfect  himself  in 
French  ;  thence  came  to  the  United  States,  where,  writing  under  the  soubriquet 
of  "Peter  Porcupine,"  he  got  into  hot  water;  he  again  returned  home,  and 
supported  the  Government  in  a  daily  paper  called  the  Porcupine'  changed  that 
publication  into  Cobbett^ s  Weekly  Register,  in  which  he  assajled  the  Ministiy, 
with  much  continuity  and  force ;  was  prosecuted,  and  fined  repeatedly,  but 
most  heavily  for  comments  on  the  illegal  flogging  of  some  militia-men  at  Ely, 
for  which  he  had  to  undergo  two  years'  impi'isonment,  with  a  fine  of  one  thou- 
sand pounds  sterling  ;  continued  his  Register,  however,  dui'ing  his  confinement, 
and  until  what  were  called  the  "  S?k  Acts"  were  passed  to  check  him  ;  came 
back  to  America,  whence  his  Register,  still  published  in  London,  was  duly 
supplied  with  "  copy,"  until  his  final  retui-n  to  England  in  1819,  bringing  with 


320  PENENDEN    HEATH    MEETING. 

lowest  class  of  freeholders  made  some  demonstration  of  pleas- 
ure at  his  appearance,  and  followed  him  as  he  made  his  way 
toward  a  wagon  on  the  right  of  the  Sheriff  He  was  dressed 
in  a  gray  frieze  coat,  with  a  red  handkerchief,  which  gave  him 
a  very  extraordinary  aspect,  and  presented  him  in  contrast 
with  the  body  of  those  who  occupied  the  wagons,  who,  on  ac- 
count of  the  public  mourning,  were  dressed  in  black.  He 
seemed  in  excellent  health  and  spirits,  for  his  cheeks  were 
almost  as  ruddy  as  his  neckcloth,  and  set  off  his  white  hair, 
while  4iis  eyes  sparkled  at  the  anticipation  of  the  victory  which 
he  was  confident  that  he  should  obtain.     He  seemed  to  me  to 

him  the  bones  of  Thomas  Paine ;  successfully  contested  the  representation  of 
Coventry,  in  1820,  and  of  Preston,  in  1826  ;  warmly  supported  the  French 
Revolution  of  July,  1830;  vi'as  tried,  in  July,  1831,  for  the  publication  of  "a 
libel,  -whh  intent  to  I'aise  discontent  in  the  minds  of  the  laborers  in  husbandry, 
and  to  excite  them  to  acts  of  violence,  and  to  destroy  comstacks,  machinery, 
and  other  property ;"  defended  himself  so  ably  and  boldly,  that  the  jury  declined 
agreeing  on  a  verdict  of  conviction ;  and  thus  allow^ed  him  a  victory  over  Lord 
Grey's  Ministry,  v^^ho  had  prosecuted  him.  From  that  hour,  his  attacks  on  the 
Grey  Ministry  were  untiring.  He  ti'avelled  all  over  the  countiy,  lecturing 
against  them,  and  always  with  success.  He  continued  his  weekly  attacks  on 
them,  in  his  Register,  and  his  exposure  of  ministerial  nepotism  and  grasping 
selfishness,  as  evidenced  by  "  The  Grey  List,"  or  schedule  of  places  and  sinecures 
distributed  among  members  and  connections  of  the  family  of  Earl  Grey,  had 
a  mighty  influence  in  throwing  that  nobleman  into  the  cold  shade  of  unpopu- 
lai'ity,  after  the  Reform  Bill  excitement  had  subsided.  In  December,  1832, 
Cobbett  was  elected  M.  P.  for  Oldham,  in  Lancashire,  under  the  Reform  Bill. 
He  was  constant  in  his  attendance,  and  a  good  man  of  business,  but  did  not 
succeed  in  Parliament  —  a  motion  of  his  for  the  impeachment  of  Sir  Robert 
Peel  was  a  signal  failure.  The  late  hours  and  unwholesome  atmosphere  of  the 
House  told  against  one  who  used  to  boast  of  rising  at  four  and  going  to  bed  at 
nine.  Li  May,  1835,  he  was  suddenly  attacked  with  a  disease  of  the  throat, 
which  eventuated  in  his  death,  on  June  17,  1835,  aged  seventy-three.  In  July, 
1852,  his  second  son,  John  Morgan  Cobbett,  was  elected  member  for  Oldham, 
which  he  had  unsuccessfully  contested  in  July,  1835,  on  his  father's  death,  as  well 
as  in  July,  1847. —  William  Cobbett  was  an  inconsistent  politician,  very  much 
swayed  by  impulse  and  personal  feeling,  but,  self-taught  as  he  was,  no  English 
writer  of  his  time  was  master  of  a  purer  style  of  writing.  Southey,  the  poet, 
told  me,  in  1836,  that  since  the  time  of  Jeremy  Taylor,  no  man  had  written 
such  pure,  homely,  and  expressive  English  as  William  Cobbett.  He  had  a 
great  love  of  the  countiy,  and  some  of  his  descriptions  are  landscapes  in  words. 
A  curious  vein  of  egotism  ran  through  aU  nis  writings,  and,  strangely  enough, 
formed  one  of  their  leading  atti-actions. —  M. 


WILLIAM    COBBETT.  821 

mistake  the  following  and  acclamation  of  a  few  of  the  rabble  for 
the  applauses  of  the  whole  meeting.  When,  however,  he  as- 
cended the  wagon,  and  stood  before  the  assembly,  he  ought  to 
have  discovered  that  he  did  not  stand  very  high  in  the  general 
favor ;  for  while  the  circle  about  him  cheered  him  with  rather 
faint  plaudits,  the  moment  his  tall  but  somewhat  fantastical 
figure  was  exhibited  to  the  meeting,  he  was  assailed  by  the 
Brunswickers  with  the  grossest  insults, ^which,  instead  of  exci- 
ting the  anger,  produced  a  burst  of  merriment  among  the  Cath- 
olic party.  "Down  with  the  old  bone-grubber!"  —  "Oh,  Cob- 
bett,  have  you  brought  Burdett  along  with  you?"  — "  Wliere's 
your  gridiron  ?"  —  "  Will  you  pay  Burdett  out  of  the  next  crop 
of  Indian  corn  ?"  These,  and  other  contumelies,  Avere  lavished 
upon  him  by  a  set  of  fellows  who  were  obviously  posted  in  the 
meeting,  in  order  to  assail  their  antagonists  and  beat  them 
down.  Oobbett  was  so  flushed  with  the  certainty  of  success, 
and  so  self-deluded  by  his  egregious  notions  of  his  own  impor- 
tance, that  his  temper  was  not  at  first  disturbed,  but,  looking 
down  triumphantly  to  those  immediately  about  him,  and  draw- 
ing forth  a  long  petition,  told  them  that  he  had  brought  them 
something  that  should  content  them  all.  I  surveyed  him  at- 
tentively at  this  moment, 

Oobbett  is  generally  represented  as  a  man  of  rather  a  clown- 
ish-looking demeanor ;  and  I  have  read,  in  some  descriptions 
of  him,  that  he  could  not,  at  first  view,  suggest  any  notion  of 
his  peculiar  intellectual  powers.  I  do  not  at  all  agree  in  the 
opinion.  He  has  certainly  a  rude  and  rough  bearing,  and 
affects  a  heedlessness  of  form,  amounting  to  coarseness  and 
rusticity.  But  it  is  only  requisite  to  look  at  him,  in  order  to 
see  in  the  expression  of  his  countenance  the  vigorous  mind 
with  which  he  is  endowed.  The  higher  portion  of  his  face  is 
not  unlike  Sir  Walter  Scott's,  to  whom  he  bears,  especially 
about  the  brow,  a  resemblance.*     His  eyes  are  more  vivid 

*  There  were  several  points  of  personal  resemblance  between  Scott  and  Oob- 
bett—  so  much  so  that  when  I  first  saw  Oobbett,  in  1830,  I  mistook  him  for  Sit 
Walter,  whose  acquaintance  I  had  made,  some  time  before,  on  his  visit  to  Ire- 
land. Scott  was  taller  and  more  erect ;  Oobbett  looked  like  a  plain,  well-to-d* 
fiumer.     The  expi-ession  of  Scott's  face  indicated  shrewdness  ajid  sagacity ;  that 

14* 


322  PENENDEN    HEATH    MEETING. 

than  the  great  author's,  while  the  lower  part  of  his  countenance 
is  expressive  of  fierce  and  vehement  emotions.  His  attire  and 
aspect  certainly  suggest,  at  first  view,  his  early  occupations, 
and  the  predilections  of  his  later  life  (for  he  is  more  attached 
to  agriculture  than  to  politics) ;  but  whoever  looks  at  him  nar- 
rowly will  see  the  impress  of  intellectual  superiority  upon  his 
countenance,  and  perceive,  under  his  rude  bearing,  the  pre- 
dominance of  mind.  When  he  first  addressed  the  people,  he 
was  in  exceedingly  good  humor ;  and  as  he  snapped  his  fingers, 
and  cried  out,  "  Emancipation  is  all  roguery  !"  the  laugh  which 
the  recollection  of  his  own  devotedness  to  the  Catholic  cause 
created,  was  echoed  by  his  own  merriment,  and  he  seemed  to 
enjoy  his  political  inconsistency  as  an  exceeding  good  joke. 
He  told  the  people  that  he  was  well  aware  that  the  Sheriff  in- 
tended to  adjourn  the  meeting,  but  that  he  would  stay  there, 
and  hold  a  meeting  himself. 

Next  to  Cobbett  stood  the  great  leader  of  the  radicals,  Mr. 
Hunt.*     A  reconciliation  has  been  recently  effected  between 

of  Cobbett's  denoted,  moi'e  of  cunning  —  the  look  of  a  man  determined  not  to 
be  taken  in.  Both  wore  very  plain  attire,  and  I  never  saw  gloves  vdth  either. 
Cobbett  dressed  like  a  SuiTey  farmer:   Scott  like  a  Border  laird. —  M. 

*  Heniy  Hunt,  for  a  long  time  the  leader  of  the  Radical  Reform  movement 
in  England  (hence  the  title  of  "  Radicals"),  was  originally  a  farmer  in  Wilt- 
shire. In  his  youth,  he  was  such  a  strong  loyalist,  that,  in  1801,  when  Napoleon 
threatened  to  invade  England,  which  threat  did  "fright  the  isle  out  of  its  pro- 
priety," he  offered  the  whole  of  his  stock,  valued  at  twenty  thousand  pounds 
sterling,  for  the  use  of  the  Government,  if  needed,  and  engaged  to  enter,  with 
three  of  his  servants  all  well  mounted  and  equipped  at  his  own  cost,  as  volun- 
teers into  any  regiment  of  horse  that  might  make  the  first  charge  upon  the 
enemy.  He  joined  the  Marlborough  troop  of  cavalry  yeomaniy,  but  a  dispute 
with  Lord  Bruce,  its  commander,  caused  him  to  challenge  that  officer,  for 
wViich  he  was  tried,  fined  one  hundred  pounds,  and  imprisoned  for  six  weeks. 
From  this  time  he  joined  the  party  who  demanded  radical  reform  of  all  abuses 
in  Church  and  State.  In  August  16,  1819,  he  presided  at  a  reform  meeting 
in  St.  Peter's  fields,  Manchester,  where  the  Magistrates  interrupted  the  pro- 
ceedings by  sending  mounted  yeomanry  among  the  unarmed  multitude,  shooting 
and  sabring  them  in  a  bnital  manner.  This  has  long  been  called  "  The  Mas- 
sacre of  Peterloo."  The  murdering  magisti-ates  escaped  with  impunity,  but 
Hunt  was  indicted  as  the  ringleader  of  an  unlawful  assembly  of  the  people,  tiied, 
convicted,  and  sentenced  to  three  years'  imprisonment  in  Ilchester  jail.  He 
subsequently  attempted  to  drive  a  trade  by  selling  ground  roasted  com,  as  a 


HENKY   HUNT.  323 

them,  and  they  stood  together  in  the  front  of  the  same  wagon 
before  the  people.  I  was  surprised  to  find  in  Mr.  Hunt,  a  man 
of  an  exceedingly  mild  and  gentle  aspect,  with  a  smooth  and 
almost  youthful  cheek,  a  bright  and  pleasant  eye,  a  sweet  and 
urbane  smile,  and  altogether  a  most  gentlemanlike  and  dis- 
arming demeanor.  His  voice  too  is  exceedingly  melodious, 
and  as  soft  as  his  manners.  This  Gracchus  of  Manchester  is 
utterly  unlike  the  picture  which  the  imagination  is  apt  to  form 
of  a  tribune  of  the  people ;  and,  indeed,  I  do  not  consider  him 
to  possess  the  external  qualifications  of  a  great  demagogue, 
though  he  is  certainly  endowed  with  that  plain  and  simple 
eloquence  which  is  so  peculiarly  effective  with  an  English 
multitude.  Near  Hunt  and  Oobbett,  the  Pylades  and  Orestes 
of  radicalism,  stood  Counsellor  French,*  an  Irish  Catholic 
barrister,  who  is  now  a  proselyte  among  the  reformers,  but 
seems  to  have  many  of  the  qualities  necessary  to  constitute  an 
apostle  in  the  cause,  and  is  likely  one  day  to  set  up  for  himself. 
In  the  wagon  next  that  in  which  Cobbett,  Darrel,  and  Hunt, 

substitute  for  coffee,  but  the  Excise  interfered.  Finally,  he  settled  down  into 
a  large  manufactiu-er  of  *'  Hunt's  Matchless  Blacking."  He  made  several  at- 
tempts to  obtain  a  seat  in  Parliament,  but  was  unsuccessful  at  Bristol,  Westmin- 
ster, and  Somersetshire.  At  last,  in  the  borough  of  Preston,  in  Lancashire,  the 
potwallopers  (every  man  who  boiled  a  pot  within  its  limits)  elected  him  in 
1830  and  again  in  1831  —  the  first  time  rejecting  their  previous  member,  Mr. 
Stanley  (Earl  of  Derby,  in  1854)  whose  family  had  long  all  but  nominated  the 
members.  Mr.  Hunt,  a  popular  open  air  speaker,  by  no  means  made  his  mark 
in  the  legislature,  but  w^as  quiet,  and  subdued,  though  consistent  in  the  liberality 
of  his  votes.  He  was  nearly  sixty  years  old  when  he  entered  Parliament,  and 
was  too  old  to  accommodate  himself  to  its  routine  and  requirements.  In  tlie 
election  of  1832,  following  the  enactment  of  the  Reform  Bill,  the  electors  of 
"  proud  Preston,"  as  the  smoky  place  is  called,  did  not  re-elect  Mr.  Hunt. 
He  died  in  February,  1835,  aged  sixty-two.  In  person  he  was  tall  and  mus- 
cular. His  oratory  was  singularly  devoid  of  ornament,  but  he  had  a  plain  way 
of  putting  facts,  argument,  and  assertions,  before  his  auditory,  which  had  im- 
mense force.  He  published  his  own  Memoirs,  while  in  prison,  but  their  liter- 
ary merit  was  small.  At  one  time,  he  was  the  most  popular  man  in  England, 
and  his  summons  would  have  collected  a  hundred  thousand  men,  in  the  subm-bs 
of  London  alone. —  M. 

*  Counsellor  French,  who  was  a  strong  Catholic,  held  a  public  discussion  at 
Hammersmith,  London,  on  points  of  religious  faith  and  practice,  with  a  Minis- 
ter of  the  Scotch  Church,  named  Gumming.     This  was  many  years  after  Eman 
cipation  was  granted.     Both  claimed  the  victory — of  course. —  M. 


324  PENENDEN    HEATH    MEEllNG. 

were  placed,  sat  Mr.  Sheil,  the  Irish  demagogue.  This  gentle- 
man was  said,  by  some  people,  to  have  been  sent  over  by  the 
Association  ;  while  others  asserted,  that  he  had  of  his  own 
accord  embarked  in  the  perilous  enterprise  of  addressing  "  the 
Men  of  Kent."  There  was  a  feeling  of  curiosity,  mingled  with 
disrelish,  produced  by  his  appearance  there.  The  English 
Catholics  had  endeavored  to  dissuade  him  from  the  under- 
taking; and  Mr.  Barrel,  a  gentleman  of  property  in  the 
county,  was  particularly  anxious  that  he  should  not  attempt 
to  speak.  Lord  Darnley  was  also  very  adverse  to  this  adven- 
turous step,  and  so  far  from  having  given  Mr.  Sheil  a  freehold, 
had  intimated,  I  heard,  that  the  death-bed  of  the  Duke  of 
York  was  not  yet  so  much  forgotten,  that  Mr.  Sheil  should 
venture  into  such  an  assembly.*  That  gentleman  sat  in  one 
of  the  wagons,  apparently  careless  of  the  impression  which  he 
should  produce ;  but  his  pale  and  bilious  face,  in  which  dis- 
content and  solicitude,  mingled  with  a  spirit  of  sardonic  viru- 
lence, are  expressed,  and  his  restless  and  unquiet  eye,  gave 
indications  that  he  was  annoyed  at  the  opprobrious  epithets 
which  were  showered  upon  him,  and  that  he  was  anxious  about 
the  event,  as  it  should  personally  affect  himself.  There  is 
certainly  in  Mr.  Shell's  face  and  person  little  to  bespeak  the 
favor  of  a  public  assembly ;  and  if  he  produces  oratorical 
effects,  he  must  be  indebted  to  a  power  of  phrase,  and  an  art 
in  delivery,  of  which,  in  the  uproar  in  which  he  spoke,  it  was 
impossible  in  that  meeting  to  form  any  estimate.  Next  to  Mr. 
Sheil  was  the  wagon  appropriated  to  the  Committee,  where 
there  were  some  English  Catholics ;  and  Lord  Darnley's  and 
Lord  Radnor's  Avagons  succeeded. 

The  opposite  wing  was,  as  I  have  mentioned,  occupied  by 

*  When  the  Duke  of  York  was  dying,  two  years  after  he  had  sworn,  "  So 
help  me  God,"  that  he  never  would  consent  to  any  measure  of  Catholic  Eman- 
cipation, Mr.  Sheil  endeavored  "to  point  a  moral"  from  the  approaching 
funeral  of  him  who  had  raised  his  hand  to  heaven  against  the  speaker's  coun- 
try, and  concluded  by  saying  that,  the  solemn  pageant  ended,  "  the  business, 
and  pursuits,  and  all  the  fiivolities  of  life  will  be  resumed ;  and  the  heir  to 
three  kingdoms  will  be  in  a  week  forgotten ;  we,  too,  shall  pardon  and  forget 
him."  There  was  a  great  outciy  against  this  speech,  at  this  time,  and  tho 
Brunswick  Clubs  fanned  the  angry  flame,  as  best  they  could. —  M. 


EARTi   OF    WINCnn.SE A.  325 

the  Bninswickers,  of  wliom  by  far  the  most  conspicuous  was 
Lord  Winchilsea.  He  is  a  tall,  strong-built,  vigorous-looking 
man,  destitute  of  all  dignity  or  grace,  but  with  a  bluff,  rude, 
and  direct  nautical  bearing,  which  reminds  one  of  the  quarter- 
deck, and  would  lead  you  to  suppose  that  he  was  the  mate  of  a 
ship  (a  conjecture  which  a  black  silk  handkerchief  tied  tightly 
about  his  neck,  tends  to  assist)  rather  than  an  hereditary  Coun- 
sellor of  the  Crown.  Whatever  feelings  of  partiality  his  late 
conduct  may  have  generated  toward  him  with  his  own  faction, 
he  is  certainly  not  popular  in  the  county;  for  he  is  the  terror 
of  poachers,  and  is  most  arbitrary  in. the  enforcement  of'the 
game  laws.  It  is  but  justice  to  him  to  say,  that  he  has,  upon 
one  or  two  occasions,  when  he  has  detected  poachers  upon  his 
estate,  given  them  the  alternative  of  going  to  prison  or  fighting 
with  him ;  for  to  his  political  he  superadds  no  inconsiderable 
pugilistic  qualifications.  He  seems  very  well  qualified  to  lead 
an  English  mob,  and  possesses,  in  a  far  greater  perfection  than 
Hunt  or  Cobbett,  the  demagogic  qualities  of  voice,  which  gave 
him,  ,at  Penenden  Heath,  a  great  advantage  over  his  oppo- 
nents.* Before  the  chair  was  taken,  he  was  actively  engaged 
in  marshalling  his  troops,  and  cheering  them  on  to  battle,  and 
it  was  manifest  that  he  felt  all  the  excitement  of  a  leader 
engaged  in  a  cause,  upon  the  issue  of  which  his  own  political 
importance  was  depending.  I  did  not  remark  any  persons  of 
rank  about  him,  and,  indeed,  the  Protestant  was  conspicuously 
inferior  in  this  particular  to  the  Catholic  wing.  There  were, 
however,  on  the  left  side,  a  number  of  persons,  in  whom  it  was 
easy  to  recognise  the  sacerdotal  physiognomy,  of  far  more 
influence  than  noblemen  could  have  been  ;  the  whole  body  of 
the  Kent  Clergy  were  marshalled  for  the  occasion ;  and  not 
only  the  priests  of  the  established  religion,  but  many  of  the 

*■  Georg-e  Finch  Hatton,  tenth  Earl  of  Winchilsea  and  Nottingham,  was  bom 
in  1791,  and  succeeded  to  the  title  in  1826.  His  place  in  Kent,  is  Eastwell 
Park,  He  has  always  been  much  opposed,  polemically  and  politically,  to  the 
Catholics.  In  1829,  having  published  a  letter  in  which  he  imputed  to  the 
Duke  of  Wellington  a  desire  to  introduce  popery  into  every  department  of  the 
state,  the  Duke  called  on  him  to  retract  and  apologize,  and,  on  refusal  to  do  so, 
was  challenged  by  his  Gi-ace,  and  a  duel  ensued,  in  which  neither  combatant  was 
hit. —  In  youth,  from  his  loud  voice,  the  Earl  was  called  "  Roaring  Hatton." — IVI. 


326  PENENDEN   HEATH   MEETING. 

dissenting  preachers  of  the  Methodist  school,  were  arrayed 
under  the  Winchilsea  banners.  It  was  easy  to  recognise  them 
even  amid  the  crowd  of  men  habited  in  black,  by  their  lugu- 
brious and  dismal  expression.  The  clergy  at  the  meeting  were 
so  numerous,  that  the  Protestant  side  had  much  more  a  clerical 
than  an  agricultural  aspect. 

The  different  parties  being  thus  distributed,  and  every 
wagon  having  been  occupied,  and  the  whole  of  the  area  within 
the  enclosure  having  been  filled  by  the  dense  crowd,  the 
Sheriff,  Sir  T.  Maryon  Wilson,*  appeared  exactly  at  twelve 
o'clock,  and  took  the  chair.  He  seemed  to  me,  from  the  dis- 
tance at  which  I  saw  him,  a  young  man,  quite  untutored  in  the 
business  of  public  meetings ;  but  he  had  beside  him  his  sub- 
sheriff,  Mr.  Scudamore,  who  appeared  to  have  all  the  zeal  by 
which  his  employer  was  actuated  in  the  cause  of  Protestantism, 
and  to  be  perfectly  well-versed  in  the  stratagems  by  which  an 
advantage  may  be  given  to  one  party,  without  affording  to  the 
other  the  opportunity  of  complaining  of  any  very  gross  breach 
of  decorum.  This  gentleman  had  a  coarse,  red-whiskered, 
and  blunt  face,  of  the  Dogberry  character,  in  which  a  vulgar 
authoritativeness  was  combined  with  those  habits  of  submission 
to  his  superior,  which  are  generally  found  in  subordinate  func- 
tionaries. 

The  High-Sheriff  having  taken  his  station,  delivered  a  brief 
speech,  in  which  he  stated  the  object  of  the  meeting  to  be  the 
adoption  of  such  measures  as  should  be  deemed  most  advisable 
for  the  support  of  the  church  establishment ;  and  he  concluded 
by  enjoining  the  assembly  to  hear  all  parties,  a  precept  which 
he  certainly  exhibited  no  very  great  solicitude  to  embody  in 
his  own  conduct.  A  letter  from  the  brother  of  Mr.  Honey  wood 
was  then  read,  in  which  an  excuse  was  made  for  that  gentle- 
man upon  the  ground  of  indisposition  (it  was  well  known  that 

*  Sir  Thomas  Maiyon  Wilson,  who,  as  High  Sheriff  of  Kent,  was  "  first  man 
in  the  county"  in  1828,  was  born  in  1800  ;  owns  a  property  in  Kent,  called 
Charlton  House  ;  and  has  been  chiefly  noted,  of  late  years,  by  his  constant  ef- 
foi'ts  to  obtain  the  enactment  of  a  Parliamentaiy  statute  allowing  him  to  enclose, 
for  his  own  use  and  profit,  a  great  part  of  Hampstead  Heath,  near  Highgate, 
which  is  now  the  common  property  of  the  London  public,  and  is  used  by  them 
for  purposes  of  healthful  recreation. —  M. 


THE   DUCHESS   AND   THE   COALHEAVEE.  327 

he  was  adverse  to  the  objects  of  the  meeting),  and  then  Mr. 
Gipps  rose  to  move  the  petition.  I  found  it  difficult  to  ascer- 
tain exactly  who  he  was ;  but  thus  far  I  learned,  that  he  is 
not  a  man  of  influence  or  weight  from  property  in  the  county, 
and,  indeed,  I  could  see  no  motive  for  putting  him  in  the  fore- 
ground, excepting  that  he  has  a  clear  and  distinct  voice,  which, 
in  a  less  clamorous  assembly,  would  have  been  probably  heard 
by  a  considerable  part  of  the  meeting.  He  dwelt  upon  a  vari- 
ety of  the  common  topics  which  are  pressed  into  the  service 
of  Anti-catholicism,  but  gave  no  novelty  by  any  unusual  dis- 
play of  diction  to  the  old  arguments  against  Popery.  He 
seemed  himself  to  chuckle  at  what  he  conceived  to  be  a  pecu- 
liarly jocular  and  picturesque  representation  of  Mr.  O'Oonnell, 
at  the  Clare  election,  bowing  down  to  receive  the  benediction 
of  a  Bishop,  forgetting  that  it  was  hardly  stranger  on  the  part 
of  Mr.  O'Connell  to  go  through,  what  is,  after  all,  I  believe,  a 
common  form  with  pious  Roman  Catholics,  than  for  a  Duchess 
to  print  her  beautiful  lips  on  the  black  and  bearded  mouth  of 
a  coal-heaver,  in  order  to  obtain  a  vote  for  Mr.  Fox.*  I  am 
surprised  that  this  parallel  was  not  adduced  in  Mr.  O'Connell's 
defence.  After  Mr.  Gipps  had  expended  himself  in  a  monoto- 
nous and  wearisome  diatribe  against  the  Catholic  religion,  he 
proceeded  to  read  a  petition,  which  the  liberal  party  had  anlici- 
pated  would  have  prayed  distinctly  against  all  concessions  to 
the  Roman  Catholics.  To  their  surprise,  it  was  couched  in  the 
following  words  : — 

*  Georgiana,  Duchess  of  Devonshire,  whose  [reputed?]  son  is  the  present 
Duke,  was  a  very  clever,  charming-,  and  (though  her  hair  was  of  the  color  be- 
tween golden  and  red)  beautiful  woman.  She  was  a  leader  of  the  fashionable 
world  of  London,  for  many  years.  She  was  married  at  the  early  age  of  seven- 
teen, and  her  house  became  a  sort  of  political  meeting-place  for  the  old  Whig 
leaders.  She  wx'ote  poetry  —  and  Coleridge  eulogized  the  "heroic  measure" 
of  her  "  Passage  of  Mont  St.  Gothard."  She  composed  music  also,  and  pa- 
tronized painters  and  sculptors.  During  the  great  Westminster  Election,  in 
which  Fox,  "  the  Man  of  the  People,"  was  a  candidate,  she  personally  can- 
vassed for  him.  The  story  alluded  to  by  Mr.  Shell  was  that  having  asked  a 
coal-heaver  to  vote  for  Fox,  he  said,  "  Yes,  if  you  will  kiss  me,"  and  that,  put- 
ting a  guinea  between  her  lips,  she  allowed  him  to  take  kiss  and  coin  at  the 
Bame  time-,  on  which  he  voted  for  Fox!  —  The  Duchess,  albeit  much  talked 
about,  is  believed  to  have  been  a  virtuous  wife.  She  died  in  1806,  aged  forty- 
nine.— M. 


328  PENENDEN    HEATH   MEETING. 

"  Your  Petitioners  beg  leave  to  express  to  your  Honor- 
able House,  tlieir  sense  of  the  blessings  they  enjoy  under 
the  Protestant  Constitution  of  these  Kingdoms,  as  settled 
at  the  Revolution,  viewing  with  the  deepest  regret  the 
proceedings  which  have  for  a  long  time  been  carrying  on 
in  Ireland. 

"  Your  Petitioners  feel  themselves  imperatively  called 
upon  to  declare  their  strong  and  inviolable  attachment  to 
those  Protestant  principles,  which  have  proved  to  be  the 
best  security  for  the  civil  and  religious  liberty  of  these 
Kingdoms. 

**  They  therefore  approach  your  Honorable  House,  hum- 
bly but  earnestly  praying  that  the  Protestant  Constitution 
of  the  United  Kingdom  may  be  preserved  entire  and  in- 
violable." 

The  phraseology  of  this  petition,  from  its  moderate  charac- 
ter, excited  some  surprise ;  and  it  was  justly  said  that  no 
Protestant  could  object  to  the  matter  for  which  it  ostensibly 
purported  to  pray.  The  compatibility  of  concession  to  the 
Catholics  with  the  entirety  and  inviolability  of  the  Protestant 
Chjirch,  has  been  always  maintained,  by'  not  only  the  Prot- 
estant, but  Catholic  advocates  of  their  claims.  This  subdued 
tone  of  the  petition  gave  distinct  proof  that  the  Clubbists  cal- 
culated upon  a  strong  opposition  to  any  more  forcible  inter- 
ference with  the  legislature.  The  object,  however,  of  the 
Clubbists  was  obvious,  and  the  petition  was  resisted,  not  so 
much  upon  the  ground  of  its  containing  anything  in  itself  very 
objectionable,  as  that  the  intent  of  the  petitioners  themselves 
was  avov/ed. 

A  Mr.  Plumtre*  seconded  Mr.  Gipps.  It  was  said  that  he 
was  a  Calvinist,  and  he  certainly  had  the  aspect  which  we 
might  suppose  to  have  been  worn  by  the  founder  of  his  religion 

In  1828,  Mr.  Plumtre  was  one  of  the  parliamentary  representatives  of  Kent, 
and  ultra-illiberal  in  his  politics  and  religion.  He  properly  belonged  to  a  small 
but  compact  body  in  the  House  of  Commons,  called  "  The  Saints."  He  was 
a  well-meaning,  foolish-acting,  absurd-speaking  man  -^  a  sort  of  parliament^iy 
Malvolio. —  M 


MARQUIS   CAMDEN.  329 

when  lie  ordered  Servetus  to  be  consumed  by  a  slow  fire.  He 
said  notbing  at  all  worth  note. 

When  Mr.  Plumtre  sat  down,  Lord  Oamden  addressed  the 
Sheriff*  He  occupied  a  peculiar  station.  Instead,  as  was 
observed  in  one  of  the  morning  papers,  of  taking  his  place 
upon  the  right  side,  and  bringing  up  his  tenants  in  a  body,  he 
came  unattended,  aiid  selected  a  place  upon  the  hustings  near 
the  Sheriff.  He  deprecated  all  kinds  of  partisanship  in  the 
course  which  he  took  in  the  proceedings ;  and  certainly  his 
deportment  and  look  indicated  that  it  was  with  no  other  feel- 
ing than  one  of  duty,  and  without  any  kind  of  struggle  for 
superiority,  that  he  had  mingled  in  the  contest.  I  do  not 
know  whether  it  was  his  office  as  Lord  Lieutenant  of  the 
County  thaf  procured  him  a  patient  hearing  from  both  sides, 
or  whether,  before  their  passions  were  strongly  excited,  they 
forbore  from  offering  an  indignity  to  a  person  who  from  his  age 
and  rank  derived  a  title  to  universal  respect.  He  was  the 
only  person  who  was  heard  with  scarcely  any  interruption. 

His  speech  was  exceedingly  well  delivered,  in  a  surprisingly 
clear,  sonorous,  and  audible  intonation.  He  condemned  the 
conduct  of  the  Catholics  in  the  language  of  vehement  vitupe- 
ration, but  at  the  same  time  pointed  out  the  extreme  violence 
with  which  their  demands  were  resisted.  The  only  circum- 
stance in  his  speech  worth  recording  is,  that  he  mentioned  his 
belief  that  some  measure  of  concession  was  intended  by  Gov- 
ernment.    This  attracted  great  attention ;  and  it  is  difficult  to 

*  The  Marquis  Oamden  deserves  a  passing  notice,  were  it  only  to  commem- 
orate his  praiseworthy  conduct,  as  a  sinecurist.  He  was  son  of  the  great  Earl 
Camden,  Lord  Chancellor  of  England,  1766-70.  He  was  born  in  1759,  edu- 
cated at  Cambridge,  entered  the  House  of  Commons  in  1780  ;  and,  in  the  same 
year,  was  appointed  one  of  the  Tellers  of  the  Exchequer,  a  lucrative  sinecure. 
He  succeeded  his  father  in  the  Earldom  in  1794  ;  and  soon  after  went,  as  Lord- 
Lieutenant  of  Ireland.  Li  1804,  he  became  a  Cabinet  Minister,  and  quitting 
office  on  the  death  of  Pitt,  resumed  it  on  the  downfall  of  the  Greuville  admin- 
istration. He  was  rewarded  with  a  Marquisate  in  1812,  and,  when  an  outcry 
was  raised  against  sinecures,  resigned  for  the  public  good  about  thirty  thousand 
pounds  sterling  a  year,  out  of  the  proceeds  of  his  tollership.  The  whole  amount 
so  surrendered  amounted  to  about  two  hundred  and  iifty  thousand  pounds. 
He  was  Lord-Lieutenant,  custos-rotulorum,  and  vice-admiral  of  Kent,  and  died 
in  1840,  aged  eighty-one. —  M. 


330  PENENDEN    HEALTH    MEETING. 

conceive  liow  a  person,  so  prudent  and  so  calm  as  Lord  Cam- 
den manifestly  is,  would  have  intimated  any  belief  of  his  upon 
the  subject,  unless  there  were  some  foundation  on  which  some- 
tliing  more  substantial  than  a  mere  conjecture  could  be  raised. 
Toward  the  end  of  his  speech  the  Olubbists  became  exceed- 
ingly impatient,  and  one  of  them  called  him  "  an  old  Radical ;" 
a  term  of  which  he  protested  that  he  was  at  a  loss  to  discover 
the  applicability,  as  he  had  never  done  anything  to  please  the 
Radicals.  This  Mr.  Hunt  afterward  controverted,  and  insisted 
that  lie  had  done  much  to  gratify  the  Radicals  by  giving  up 
his  sinecure  —  a  panegyric  which  was  well  merited,  and  was 
most  happily  pronounced. 

Lord  Darnley  followed  Lord  Camden,  but  was  received  with 
loud  and  vehement  hooting.  This  nobleman  is  considered  to 
be  very  proud,  without  being  arrogant,  and  to  have  as  full  con- 
sciousness of  the  dignity  and  rights  of  his  order,  as  Lord  Grey 
could  charge  any  Whig  disciple  to  entertain.  He  must  have 
been  deeply  galled  when  he  perceived  that  his  rank  and  wealth 
were  only  turned  into  scoff,  and  when  in  the  outset  of  his  speech 
a  common  boor  cried  out,  *'  That  there  fellow  is  an  Hirishman. 

Tim,  put   a   potato   down  his   throat,  and   choke  his  d d 

Hirish  jaw."  He  was  not  deterred  from  going  on  by  the 
bowlings  which  surrounded  him,  and  with  far  more  intrepidity 
than  I  should  have  been  disposed  to  give  him  credit  for,  he 
proceeded  with  his  speech.  He  soon,  however,  received  a 
blow,  which  wounded  him  much  more  than  the  potato  propo- 
sition ;  for  the  moment  he  began  to  talk  of  his  estate  in 
Ireland  (where  he  has  a  very  large  property),  several  people 

cried  out,  *'  Why  don't  you  live  on  your  estate,  and  be  d d 

to   you,  and   to  every  other  d d  absentee !"     This  was  a 

thrust  which  it  was  impossible  to  parry.  Lord  Darnley  en- 
deavored to  proceed ;  but  the  uproar  became  so  terrible,  that 
not  a  word  which  he  uttered  could  be  heard  in  the  tumult. 
Whatever  faults  the  Clubbists  may  have  committed,  any  exces- 
sive deference  to  rank  and  wealth  was  not,  on  this  occasion  at 
least,  among  their  defects ;  and  indeed,  with  the  exception  of 
Cobbett  and  Shell,  no  man  was  listened  to  with  more  angry 
impatience  than  the  noble  Earl.     After  speaking  for  about 


EIVAL    OKATOES.  331 

twenty  minutes,  lie  sat  down  witli  evident  marks  of  disappoint- 
ment and  personal  mortification. 

On  his  resuming  his  place,  with  a  determination,  I  should 
presume,  never  to  expose  himself  to  such  an  affront  again, 
Lord  Winchilsea  and  Mr.  Sheil  rose  together.  The  compe- 
tition for  precedence  into  which  the  Irish  demagogue  was  so 
audacious  as  to  enter  with  the  chief  and  captain  of  the  Bruns- 
wickers,  excited  the  fury  of  the  latter.  Mr.  Sheil  insisted 
that,  as  Lord  Camden  had  —  as  was,  I  believe,  the  case  — 
alluded  to  him,  he  had  a  right  to  vindicate  himself;  and  there 
were  many  who  surmised  that  his  motive  for  presenting  him- 
self at  this  early  stage  of  the  proceedings  was,  that  he  had 
sent  his  speech  to  London  to  be  printed  ;  and  he  was  heard  to 
say  that  he  did  not  care  whether  the  Brunswickers  listened  to 
him,  provided  his  arguments  were  read.*  Whatever  was  his 
object,  it  was  certainly  not  a  little  presumptuous  in  a  stranger 
thus  to  enter  the  lists  with  an  Earl,  and  to  demand  a  prior 
audience.  "I  am  an  Irishman,"  said  Mr.  Sheil.  "I'll  be 
sworn  you  are,"  cried  Cobbett ;  "  you  are  such  a  d d  impu- 
dent fellow."  The  party  on  the  right  endeavored  to  support 
Mr.  Sheil,  and  for  a  long  time  both  Lord  Winchilsea  and  that 
gentleman  continued  to  speak  together,  amid  a  confusion  in 
which  neither  could  be  heard. 

At  length  the  Sheriff  interposed,  and  declared  that  Lord 
Winchilsea  had  first  obtained  his  eye.  That  nobleman  pro- 
ceeded to  deliver  himself  of  a  quantity  of  commonplace 
against  the  Catholic  religion,  amid  the  vehement  plaudits  of 
his  own  faction,  intermingled  with  strong  marks  of  disapproba- 
tion from  the  right.  **  Mushroom  Lord  —  upstart  —  go  mind 
your  rabbits,  and  the  Papists  are  not  poachers !"  were  the 
cries  of  the  liberal  party ;  while  the  Brunswickers  exclaimed, 

*  Mr.  Sheil  had  prepared  a  long  and  brilliant  oration,  to  be  delivered  at  the 
Penenden  Heath  Meeting,  and  Murdo  Young,  of  "  The  Siin"  newspaper  had 
it  published  that  evening  as  if  it  had  been  spoken.  Only  a  few  sentences 
were  actually  spoken,  but  the  speech,  to  the  extent  of  several  columns,  was 
sent  all  over  the  United  Kingdom,  on  the  wings  of  the  press,  and  produced  a 
strong  impression  wherever  read.  I  recollect  that,  on  reluming  from  Penenden 
Heath,  on  the  evening  of  the  meeting,  Mr.  Sheil  supped  at  the  "  Sun"  office, 
and  I  had  the  gratification  of  being  one  of  the  party. —  M. 


332  PENENDEN    HEATH    MEETmG. 

"Bravo,  Wincbilsea !"  and  waved  their  hats,  as  with  the 
lungs  of  Stentor,  with  the  gesture  of  a  pugilist,  and  the  frenzy 
of  a  fanatic,  he  proceeded.  Although  utterly  destitute  of  idea, 
and  though  scarcely  one  distinct  notion,  perhaps,  could  bo 
detected  in  his  speech,  yet  Lord  Winchilsea,  by  the  energy 
of  his  action,  and  the  impetuosity  of  his  manner,  and  the  strong 
evidences  of  rude  sincerity  about  him,  made  an  impression 
upon  his  auditors  far  greater  than  the  cold  didactic  manner  of 
Lord  Camden  or  Lord  Darnley  was  calculated  to  produce. 

There  can  be  no  greater  mistake  than  the  supposition  that 
the  English  people  are  not  fond  of  ardent  speaking,  and  of  a 
vehement  rhetorical  enunciation.  Lord  Winchilsea  is  perfectly 
denuded  of  knowledge,  reflection,  or  command  of  phrase ;  yet 
by  dint  of  strong  feeling  he  contrives  to  awaken  a  sympathy 
which  a  colder  speaker,  with  all  the  graces  of  eloquence,  could 
never  attain.  He  seems  to  be  in  downright  earnest ;  and  al- 
though his  personal  vanity  may  be  an  ingredient  in  his  sincer- 
ity, it  is  certain,  whatever  be  the  cause,  that  his  ardor  and 
vehemence  are  far  more  powerful  auxiliaries  to  his  cause,  than 
the  contemplative  philosophy  of  the  Whigs,  who,  contented 
with  their  cold  integrity  of  purpose,  adopted  no  efficient  means 
to  bring  their  tenants  to  the  field,  and  encounter  their  oppo- 
nents with  the  weapons  which  were  so  powerfully  wielded 
against  them. 

After  having  whirled  himself  round,  and  having  beaten  his 
breast  and  bellowed  for  about  half  an  hour,  Lord  Winchilsea 
sat  down  in  the  midst  of  the  constitutional  acclamations  of  the 
Brunswickers  ;  and  Mr.  Sheil,  and  ]VIi\  Shea,  an  English  Cath- 
olic gentleman,  both  presented  themselves  to  the  Sheriff.  The 
Sheriff  gave  a  preference  to  Mr.  Shea,  who  made  a  bold  and 
manly  speech,  but  was  interrupted  by  the  continued  hootings 
of  the  Protestant  party.  The  only  fault  committed  by  Mr. 
Shea  was,  that  he  dwelt  too  long  on  the  pure  blood  of  the 
English  Catholics  —  a  topic  of  which  they  are  naturally  but  a 
little  tediously  fond  :  it  were  to  be  desired  that  this  old  blood 
of  theirs  did  not  stagnate  so  much  in  their  veins,  and  beat  a 
little  more  rapidly  in  its  circulation.  With  their  immense  for- 
tunes, and  a  little  more  exertion,  Avhat  might  they  not  accoin- 


sheil's  unspoken  oration.  333 

plish  in  influencing  tlie  public  mind  ]  Excellent  men  in  pri- 
vate life,  they  are  not  sufficiently  ardent  for  politicians,  and 
should  remember  that  their  liberty  may  be  almost  bought,  and 
that  two  or  three  thousand  pounds  well  applied  might  have 
turned  the  Kent  meeting. 

Mr.  Shea  having  concluded,  Lord  Teynham  rose ;  and  Mr. 
Shell,  at  the  Sheriff's  request,  gave  way  to  him.  Lord  Teyn- 
ham had  been  a  Roman  Catholic*  His  name  is  Roper,  and, 
I  believe,  he  is  descended  from  Mrs.  Roper,  the  daughter  of 
Sir  Thomas  More.  He  was  assailed  with  reproaches  for  his 
apostasy  by  the  Protestants  ;  and,  though  he  made  a  very  good 
speech,  it  was  neutralized  in  its  effect  by  his  desertion  of  his 
former  creed.  So  universal  (however  unjust,  perhaps)  is  the 
antipathy  to  a  renegade,  that  among  the  Brunswickers  them- 
selves, his  having  ceased  to  be  a  Catholic  rendered  him  an 
object  of  scorn.  "  That  fellow 's  a-going  to  shift  his  religion 
again!"  —  "Oh,  my  Lord,  there's   a  man  here  as  says  that 

what  your  Lordship's  saying  is  all  a  d d  Popish  lie!"  and 

other  ejaculations  of  the  same  character  warned  my  Lord 
Teynham  that  his  change  of  creeds  had  not  rendered  him 
more  acceptable  to  his  audience. 

Lord  Teynham  having  sat  down  amid  the  Brunswick  groans, 
Mr.  Shell  rose  among  them.  He  was  vehemently  applauded 
on  the  right,  and  as  furiously  howled  at  from  the  left.  "  Down 
with  him,  the  traitor!"  —  "  Down  with  the  rebel!" — "Apolo- 
gize for  Avhat  you  said  of  the  Duke  of  York  !"  — "  Send  him 
and  O'Connell  to  the  Tower!"  —  "He  got  his  freehold  last 
night  in  Maidstone  !"  — "Down  with  him  !"  —  "  Off,  Shell,  off!" 
—  "We're  not  the  Clare  freeholders!"  — "  See  how  the  viper 
spits!"  — "  How  the  little  hanimal  foams  at  the  mouth  !  take 
care  of  him,  he'll  bite  you!"  — "Off,  Shell,  off!"  were  the 
greetings  with  which  this  gentleman  was  hailed  by  the  Bruns- 
wickers, while  his  own  party  cried  out,  "  Fair  play  !"  —  "Oh, 
you  cowards,  you  are  afraid  to  hear  him  !" 

Of  what  Mr.  Shell  actually  said,  it  was  impossible  to  give 
any  account ;  and  the  miraculous  power  by  which  "  The  Sun" 

*  Henry  Francis  Roper,  fourteenth  Lord  Teynham,  born  1760,  died  1842. 
Hi»  estate  in  Kent  was  called  Linsted  Lodge. —  M. 


334  PENENDEN   HEATH   MEETING. 

newspaper  of  that  night  contrived  to  publish  his  oration  in 
three  columns,  must  be  referred  to  some  Hohenloe's  interposi- 
tion in  favor  of  that  journal.  I  heard  but  one  sentence,  which 
I  afterward  recognised  in  print,  as  having  been  spoken :  "  See 
to  what  conclusion  you  must  arrive,  when  you  denounce  the 
advocates  of  Emancipation  as  the  enemies  of  their  country. 
How  far  will  your  anathema  reach  ?  It  will  take  in  one  half 
of  Westminster  Abbey  ;  and  is  not  the  very  dust,  into  which 
the  tongues  and  hearts  of  Pitt,  and  Burke,  and  Fox,  have 
mouldered,  better  than  the  living  hearts  and  tongues  of  those 
who  have  survived  them?  If  you  were  to  try  the  question  by 
the  authorities  of  the  illustrious  dead,  and  by  those  voices 
which  may  be  said  to  issue  from  the  grave,  how  would  you 
determine  1  If,  instead  of  counting  votes  in  St.  Stephen's 
Chapel,  you  were  to  count  monuments  in  the  mausoleum  beside 
it,  how  would  the  division  of  the  great  departed  stand  ?  Enter 
the  aisles  which  contain  the  ashes  of  your  greatest  legislators, 
and  ask  yourselves  as  you  pass  how  they  felt  and  spoke,  when 
they  had  utterance  and  emotion,  in  that  senate  where  they  are 
heard  no  more  :  write  *  E?na?icipatior^  upon  the  tomb  of  every 
advocate,  and  its  counter-epitaph  on  that  of  every  opponent 
of  the  peace  of  Ireland,  and  shall  we  not  have  a  majority  of 
sepulchres  in  our  favor  V  With  this  exception,  I  do  not  think 
that  the  Irish  demagogue  uttered  one  word  of  what  appeared 
in  the  slxape  of  an  elaborate  essay  in  the  newspapers." 

After  having  stamped,  and  fretted,  and  entreated,  and  men- 
aced the  Brunswickers  for  half  an  hour,  during  which  he  sus- 
tained a  continued  volley  of  execrations,  Mr.  Shell  thought  it 
prudent  to  retreat,  and  was  succeeded  by  Mr.  Larkin,  an  auc- 
tioneer from  Rochester,  who  delivered  a  very  clever  speech  in 
favor  of  radicalism,  but  had  the  prudence  to  keep  clear  of 
Emancipation.  His  occupation  afforded  a  fine  scope  for  Bruns- 
wick wit.  "Knock  him  down  —  going,  going,  gone  !"  and  sim- 
ilar reminiscences,  exhibited  the  aristocracy  of  the  mob.  Mr. 
Larkin  was  not  at  all  disturbed,  but,  with  an  almost  unparal- 
leled sang-Jroid,  drew  a  flask  from  his  pocket,  and  refreshed 
himself  for  the  next  sentence,  when  the  uproar  was  at  its 
height. 


KNATCHBULL    AND   COBBETT.  335 

When  he  had  finished,  Sir  Edward  Knatchbull,  the  member 
for  the  county,  and  Oobbett,  who  had  been  railing  for  hours  at 
the  long  speeches,  got  up  together.  The  Sheriff  preferred  Sir 
Edward,  upon  which  Cobbett  got  into  a  fit  of  vehement  indig- 
nation. He  accused  the  Sheriff  of  gross  partiality,  and,  while 
Sir  Edward  Knatchbull  was  going  on,  shook  his  hand  repeat- 
edly at  him,  and  exhibited  the  utmost  savageness  of  de- 
meanor and  of  aspect.  His  face  became  inflamed  with  rage, 
and  his  mouth  was  contorted  into  a  ferocious  grin.  He  grasped 
a  large  pole,  with  a  placard  at  the  head  of  it  in  favor  of  Lib- 
erty, and,  standing  Avith  this  apparatus  of  popularity,  which 
assisted  him  in  supporting  himself  at  the  verge  of  the  wagon, 
he  hurled  out  his  denunciations  against  the  Sheriff.  The  Bruns- 
wickers  roared  at  him,  and  showered  contumely  of  all  kinds 
upon  his  head,  but  with  an  undaunted  spirit  he  persevered. 
Sir  Edward  Knatchbull  was  but  indistinctly  heard  in  the  tu- 
mult which  his  own  party  had  got  up  to  put  Cobbett  down. 
He  seems  a  proud,  obstinate,  dogged  sort  of  Squire,  with  an  in- 
finite notion  of  his  own  importance  as  an  English  county  mem- 
ber, and  a  corresponding  contempt  for  seven  millions  of  his 
fellow-citizens.  He  has  in  his  face  and  bearing  many  of  the 
disagreeable  qualities  of  John  Bullism,  without .  any  of  its 
frankness  and  plain  dealing.  He  is  rude  without  being  honest, 
and  offensive  without  being  sincere.*  Oobbett  was  almost 
justified  in  complaining  that  such  a  man  should  be  preferred 
to  him. 

When  he  had  terminated  a  speech,  in  which  it  was  evident 
that  he  was  thinking  of  the  next  election,  at  which  the  Deer- 
ings  intended  to  dispute  the  county  with  him,  Oobbett  was 
allowed  by  the  Sheriff  to  proceed.  His  hilarity  was  restored 
for  a  little  while,  and  holding  out  his  petition  against  tithes, 
he  set  about  abusing  both  parties.  In  a  letter  published  in 
the  Morning  Herald,  he  takes  care,  in  his  account  of  the  meet- 

*  Sii  Edward  Knatchbull,  of  Mersham  Hatch,  Kent  (which  his  family  have 
owned  since  the  time  of  Henry  H.),  was  bom  in  1781,  and  succeeded  to  the 
title  in  1819.  He  eventually  abandoned  much  of  his  intolerance,  was  Paymas- 
ter of  the  Forces,  in  Peel's  last  Ministry,  and  continued  comparatively  liberal 
until  his  death. —  M. 


336  PENENDEN    HEATH   MEETING. 

ing,  to  record  the  opprobrious  language  applied  by  the  multi- 
tude to  others  ;  but  he  omits  all  mention  of  what  was  said  of 
himself.  "Down  Avith  the  old  Bone-grubber!"  —  "Roast  him 
on  his  gridiron;"  —  "D — n  him  and  his  Indian  corn;"  were 
shouted  from  all  quarters.  He  was  not,  however,  much  dis- 
composed at  first,  for  he  was  confident  of  carrying  his  petition, 
and  retorted  with  a  good  deal  of  force  and  some  good  humor 
on  those  who  were  inveighing  against  him.  "You  cry  out  too 
weakly,  my  bucks  !"  said  he,  snapping  his  fingers  at  them. 
"  You  cry  like  women  in  the  family-way.  There 's  a  rascal 
there,  that  is  squeaking  at  me,  like  a  parson's  tithe-pig." 

These  sallies  amused  everybody ;  but  still  the  roar  against 
him  continued,  and  I  was  astonished  to  see  what  little  influ- 
ence he  had  with  even  the  lower  orders  by  whom  he  was  sur- 
rounded. The  Catholic  party  looked  upon  him  as  an  enemy, 
who  came  to  divide  them,  and  the  Brunswickers  treated  him 
with  mingled  execrations  and  scorn.  At  length  he  perceived 
that  the  day  was  going  against  him,  and  his  eyes  opened  to 
his  own  want  of  power  over  the  people.  Though  he  after- 
ward vaunted  that  the  great  majority  were  with  him,  he  ap- 
peared not  to  have  above  a  dozen  or  two  to  support  his  propo- 
sition, and  when  he  sat  down,  evident  symptoms  of  mortification 
and  of  rage  against  all  parties  appeared  in  his  countenance. 
Altogether,  he  acquitted  himself  as  badly  as  can  be  well 
imagined ;  and  it  seems  to  me  as  clear  that  he  is  a  most 
inefficient  and  powerless  speaker,  as  that  he  is  a  great  and 
vigorous  writer. 

Hunt  got  up  to  second  him,  and  was  received  almost  as 
badly  as  his  predecessor,  though  his  conduct  and  manner  were 
quite  opposite,  and  he  did  everything  he  could,  by  gentleness 
and  persuasiveness,  to  allay  the  fury  of  the  Brunswick  party, 
But,  after  he  had  begun.  Sir  Edward  Knatchbull  interrupted 
him  in  a  most  improper  and  offensi-^e  manner,  which  induced 
Lord  E-adnor  to  stand  up  and  reprobate  Sir  Edward's  conduct 
as  a  most  gross  violation  of  decorum.  Mr.  Hunt  went  on ;  but, 
whatever  may  be  his  sway  with  public  assemblies  on  other 
occasions,  he  certainly  showed  few  evidences  of  omnipotence 
upon  this.     He  seemed  to  be  crest-fallen,  and  to  have  quailed 


BRUNSWICKERS'    TRIUMPH.  337 

under  the  force  wliicli  was  brought  to  "bear  against  him.  One 
story  he  told  well,  of  Sir  Edward  Knatchbull  having  refused 
to  pay  him  for  four  gallons  of  beer,  when  he  was  a  brewer  at 
Bristol,  because  he  had  sold  him  a  less  quantity  than  that  pre- 
scribed by  the  law  :  altogether,  his  speech,  if  it  might  be  so 
called,  when  he  was  not  allowed  to  utter  a  connected  sentence, 
was  a  complete  failure ;  but  I  am  convinced  that  no  estimate 
of  his  ability  can  be  formed  from  this  specimen  of  him,  as  his 
voice  was  stifled  by  the  faction  to  which  he  was  opposed. 
Indeed  both  parties  seemed  to  repudiate  Oobbett  and  Hunt, 
as  their  common  enemies. 

Before  Hunt  had  finished,  there  was  a  tremendous  and 
seemingly  a  preconcerted  cry  of  "  question"  from  the  Bruns- 
wickers ;  Hunt  went  on  speaking,  and  immense  confusion  took 
place.  Mr.  Oalcraft  interfered  in  vain.  Mr.  Hodges  and  Lord 
Radnor  then  moved  an  amendment,  declaring  that  the  measure 
should  be  left  to  the  discretion  of  the  legislature ;  and  amid  a 
tumult,  to  which  I  never  witnessed  anything  at  all  comparable, 
the  Sheriff  put  the  question.  It  has  been  stated  in  the  news- 
papers that  the  Brunswickers  had  a  great  majority ;  the  im- 
pression of  a  vast  number  of  persons  was  quite  the  reverse. 
They  were  indeed  so  well  disciplined,  that  their  show  of  hats 
was  simultaneous,  while  the  liberal  party  hardly  knew  what 
what  was  going  forward.  The  Sheriff  omitted  to  put  Cobbett's 
amendment,  which  seemed  to  be  forgotten  by  every  one  but 
himself;  and  having  announced  that  there  was  a  large  major- 
ity for  the  petition  moved  by  Mr.  Gripps,  retired  from  the  chair. 
The  acclamations  of  the  Brunswickers  were  reiterated ;  the 
whole  body  waved  their  hats,  and  lifted  up  their  voices ;  the 
parsons  shook  hands  with  each  other :  the  Methodists  smiled 
with  a  look  of  ghastly  satisfaction ;  and  Lord  Winchilsea, 
losing  all  decency  and  self-restraint,  was  thrown  into  convul- 
sions of  joy,  and  leaped,  shouted,  and  roared,  in  a  state  of 
almost  insane  exultation.  The  whole  party  then  joined  iu 
singing  "  God  save  the  King,"  in  one  howl  of  appropriate  dis- 
cord, and  the  assembly  broke  up. 

Thus  terminated  the  great  Kent  meeting ;  to  which,  how- 
ever, I  conceive  that  more  importance,  as  it  affects  the  Cath- 

Voi..  II.— 15 


338  TENENDEN  HEATH  MEETING. 

olic  question,  is  attaclied  than  it  deserves.  I  have  not  room 
left  for  many  comments,  but  a  few  brief  observations  on  tliis 
striking  incident  are  necessary.  The  triumph  of  Protestantism 
is  not  complete.  The  whole  body  of  the  clergy,  who  are  in 
Kent  exceedingly  numerous,  were  not  only  present,  but  used 
all  their  influence  to  procure  an  attendance,  and  the  utmost 
exertions  were  employed  to  bring  the  tenantry  of  the  anti- 
Catholic  proprietors  to  the  field.  No  exertion  was  made  upon 
the  other  side.  Lord  Camden  boasted  that  he  had  not  inter- 
fered with  a  single  individual ;  yet  it  is  admitted  that  at  least 
one  third  of  the  assembly  Avere  favorable  to  the  Catholics. 
The  spirit  of  Lord  George  Gordon  may,  by  the  metempsycho- 
sis of  faction,  have  migrated  into  Lord  Winchilsea  ;  but,  while 
he  is  as  well  qualified  in  intellect  and  in  passion  to  conduct  a 
multitude  of  fanatics,  his  troops  are  of  a  very  different  charac- 
ter. Will  the  legislature  shrink  before  him]  Or  will  it  not 
rather  exclaim,  **  Contempsi  Catilince  gJadios,  non  partimescam 
tuos .?"  Will  the  Government  permit  such  precedents  of  pop- 
ular excitation  to  be  held  up  ?"  and  does  it  never  occur  to 
the  Tory  party  that  the  time  may  not  be  far  distant  when 
republicanism  may  choose  Protestantism  for  its  model,  and,  by 
rallying  the  people,  act  upon  the  same  principle  of  intimida- 
tion? If  the  Catholics  are  to  be  put  down  by  these  means, 
may  not  the  aristocracy  be  one  day  put  down  by  similar  expe- 
dients 1  Will  the  House  of  Lords  stand  by  and  allow  all  the 
opulence  and  the  rank  of  a  large  county  to  be  trampled  upon 
by  the  multitude  1  for  it  must  occur  to  everybody,  that  Lord 
Winchilsea  was  the  only  nobleman  on  the  side  of  the  petition- 
ers, while  the  rest  of  the  Peerage  were  marshalled  on  the 
other.  Do  the  patricians  of  England  desire  to  see  a  renewal 
of  scenes  in  which  the  nobles  of  the  land  were  treated  with 
utter  scorn,  and  the  feet  of  peasants  trod  upon  their  heads  1 
Let  statesmen  reflect  upon  these  very  obvious  subjects  of 
grave  meditation,  and  determine  whether  Ireland  is  to  be 
infuriated  by  oppression,  and  England  is  to  be  maddened  with 
fanaticism;  whether  they  are  not  preparing  the  way  for  the 
Bpeedy  convulsion  of  one  country,  and  the  ultimate  revolution 
of  the  other. 


/ 


LORD-OHANOELLOR   BROUGHAM'S   LEVEE. 

Unfeigned  respect  for,  and  a  slight  personal  acquaintance 
with,  the  noble  person  who  now  holds  the  Seals,  led  me  to  at- 
tend his  last  levee.*  This  could  not  be  done  without  some 
inconvenience  ;  and  not  the  least  of  it  was  the  necessity  of  be- 
ing equipped  in  full  court-apparel.  I  do  not  object  to  this 
dress  —  indeed,  I  much  approve  of  it  in  those  who  mingle  in 
the  gorgeousness  of  courts  ;  but  plainer  attire  would  have  more 
befitted  the  taste  of  an  humble  incognito.  I  mention  this  fact, 
lest  it  might  be  supposed  that  I  was  guilty  of  the  not  improb- 
able gothicism  of  appearing  in  a  garb  fit  for  the  funeral,  but 
not  the  levee  of  a  Lord-Chancellor.  The  practice  of  receiving 
the  respects  of  the  public  on  one  or  two  stated  occasions  is  suf- 
ficiently ancient,  but  I  have  understood  was  discontinued,  or 
not  much  observed,  in  the  latter  days  of  Lord  Eldon.  It  was 
revived  with  somewhat  greater  splendor  by  Lord  Lyndhurst, 
but  still  it  attracted  little  public  notice.  His  Lordship  never 
secured  any  very  considerable  share  of  general  favor.  As  a 
lawyer,  he  was  not  at  the  head,  though  among  the  chief  of  his 
profession.  For  my  own  part,  I  do  not  regard  his  secondary 
eminence  in  the  law  as  detracting  much  from  his  eminence  as 
a  public  character,  when  it  is  recollected  that  Brougham  him- 

*  This  sketch  was  published  in  No.  1  of  the  Metropolitan  Magazine  (May, 
1831),  which  was  started  by  Thomas  Campbell,  the  poet,  after  he  had  retired 
from  the  Editorship  of  the  New  Monthly  Magazine,  which  he  had  held  for  a 
period  of  ten  years.  Lord  Brougham's  first  levee  would  probably  have  been  in 
Hilary  Term,  1831,  and  the  second,  described  by  Mr.  Shell,  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  following  Easter  Term,  or  in  April,  1831. —  M. 


840  LORD  beougham's  levee. 

self  ranked  much  below  Gurney,*  Pollock,  Campbell,  and  sev- 
eral others,  whose  distinction  is  derived  from  law  alone  —  the 
lowest  basis  on  which  the  fame  of  a  public  man  can  rest.  In 
politics  his  career  had  not  been  such  as  to  command  respect. 
He  was  uniformly  the  supporter  of  the  most  profitable  opinion.f 

*  The  late  Sir  John  Gumey,  long  known  as  one  of  the  best  cross-examiners 
at  the  bar,  was  made  a  puisne  judge,  and  in  that  capacity,  no  one  could  say  of 
him, 

"  Even  his  failings  leaned  to  mercy's  side," 

for  he  was  most  sevei'e  in  his  judgments.  Sir  Frederick  Pollock  and  Lord 
Campbell  are  yet  alive  —  the  first,  is  Chief  Baron  of  the  Exchequer;  the  other, 
is  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  England,  and  obtained  a  peerage  in  June,  1841,  by 
the  scandalous  job  (already  referred  to  in  my  notes  on  the  sketch  of  Plunket) 
of  being  made  Ii'ish  Chancellor,  for  a  few  days,  to  obtain  the  retiring  pension 
of  four  thousand  pounds  sterling,  when  the  Melbourne  Ministry,  whose  first 
law-officer  he  was,  had  no  other  means  of  quartering  him  on  the  public. —  M. 

t  Lord  Lyndhurst,  who  has  been  Lord  Chancellor  of  England  under  five  Ad- 
ministrations, is  American  by  birth,  having  been  bom  at  Boston,  May  21,  1772. 
His  grandfather,  Richard  Copley,  was  an  Irishman  who  emigrated  to  Amei'ica; 
John  Singleton  Copley,  this  man's  son,  born  in  Boston  in  1738,  showed  great 
natural  taste  for  painting,  which  he  adopted  as  a  profession.  He  went  to  Eng- 
land, where  his  fine  histoi'ical  painting,  the  death  of  Lord  Chatham,  gave  him 
high  reputation.  He  painted  several  other  subject-pictures,  which  caused  him 
to  be  elected  a  Royal  Academician.  He  died  in  1815,  having  lived  to  see  the 
dawning  success  of  his  son.  The  future  Chancellor  having  eminently  distin- 
guished himself  at  Cambridge  University,  was  called  t,o  the  English  bar  in  1804, 
and,  at  first  was  remarkable  for  his  ultra-liberal  politics.  He  soon  became 
leader  of  his  circuit,  entered  Parliament,  adopted  Tory  views,  and  was  rewarded 
by  the  Government,  with  the  Chief  Justice  of  Chester  in  1818.  He  was  made 
Solicitor-General,  and  knighted,  in  1819,  became  Attorney-General  in  1824 ; 
was  made  Master  of  the  Rolls  in  1826  ;  and  was  raised  to  the  rank  of  Lord 
Chancellor,  with  a  peerage,  as  Lord  Lyndhurst,  when  Lord  Eldon  and  five  of 
his  colleagues  simultaneously  resigned,  with  a  view  to  embarrass  Canning,  the 
new  Premier,  in  1827.  Lord  Lyndhurst  was  continued  in  the  office  of  Chancellor 
under  the  brief  administration  of  Lord  Goderich,  and  was  retained,  from  1827 
to  November,  1828,  by  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  under  whom,  in  1829,  the 
pliant  lawyer  advocated  Catholic  Emancipation,  as  strongly  as  he  had  assailed 
it  before.  In  November,  1830,  when  the  Duke's  Cabinet  broke  up,  Lyndhurst 
had  to  resign,  and  was  succeeded  by  Brougham.  In  1831,  Lord  Lyndhurst 
was  made  Chief  Baron  of  the  Exchequer,  which  he  resigned,  in  December, 
1834,  again  to  become  Lord  Chancellor.  But  Peel's  Ministry,  of  which  he 
was  one,  was  compelled  to  resign  in  April,  1835.  From  this  time,  until  the 
autumn  of  1841,  Lord  Lyndhurst  held  no  official  station,  but  received  his  retir- 
ing pension  of  five  thousand  porunds  sterling.     Ho  made  a  speech,  for  several 


LORD    LTNDHUKST.  341 

In  early  life  a  flagrant  Whig,  as  opening  up  the  best  field  for 
talent ;  in  a  more  advanced  stage,  the  bitter  enemy  of  the 
Catholics,  so  long  as  the  star  of  Lord  Eldon,  the  great  dis- 
penser of  legal  favor,  was  in  the  ascendant;  and  finally,  when 
office  had  secured  him,  the  advocate  of  the  Catholics  on  what 
was  called  the  constitutional  ground,  when  all  favor  was  in  the 
giving  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington.* 

It  is  not  remarkable  that  the  levees  of  Lord  Lyndhurst 
should  have  passed  off  in  quietness.  I  do  not  remember  to 
have  heard  that  the  ceremonial  was  observed  by  his  Lordship, 
although,  from  the  known  display  of  this  fashionable  lawyer, 
there  is  no  doubt  that  it  was  not  neglected.  If,  however,  his 
levees  had  been  attended  by  the  magnificent,  it  is  equally  cer- 
tain that  the  fact  must  have  attracted  public  notoriety.  I  in- 
cline to  think  that  it  was  reserved  for  Brougham  to  illustrate 
the  ancient  custom,  by  the  splendor  of  those  who  chose  to  be 
dutiful  to  the  Lord-Chancellor.     The  fashion  of  going  to  court 

subsequent  years,  at  the  close  of  each  Parliamentary  Session,  in  which  he  ably 
and  unmercifully  exposed  the  "  sayings  and  doings"  of  the  Melbourne  Ministiy. 
When  Peel  again  became  Premier,  in  1841,  Lord  Lyndhurst,  for  the  fifth  time, 
was  made  Lord  Chancellor,  and  continued  in  office,  until  June,  1846,  when 
the  Peel  Ministry  was  broken  up.  It  is  said  that  he  was  offered  the  Great 
Seal,  for  the  sixth  time,  in  1852,  by  Lord  Derby,  but  declined  on  the  plea  of 
advanced  years — having  then  reached  the  age  of  seventy.  As  a  politician, 
Lord  Lyndhurst  has  been  inconsistent  and  flexible;  as  a  parliamentary  speaker, 
severe  and  sarcastic  ;  as  an  advocate,  powerful  and  effective ;  as  a  judge,  acute 
and  shrewd.  In  common  law,  he  has  had  few  superiors  ;  and  though  his  bar- 
practice  was  not  in  the  Chancery  courts,  sagacity  and  great  common  sense 
marked  his  decisions  in  equity.  He  still  attends  to  his  parliamentary  duties 
[January,  1854],  but  seldom  speaks. — M. 

*  War,  to  which  Wellington  owed  his  celebrity,  rank,  and  fortune,  has  usually 
been  an  expensive  luxury  to  John  Bull.  In  the  last  four  years  of  the  contest 
with  France,  the  cost  to  the  British  nation  was — 1812,  £103,421,538;  1813, 
£120,952,657;  1814,  £116,843,889  ;  1815,  £116,491,051.  The  expenditure 
during  the  war,  from  1803  to  1815  inclusive,  was  £1,159,729,256.  It  was 
stated  after  the  battle  of  Waterloo,  that  young  men  in  the  United  Kingdom 
(such  as  ij^ually  enlist)  were  so  generally  killed  off  that  it  would  have  been 
impossible  to  raise  another  anny.  I  have  heard  Doctor  Buckland,  the 
geologist,  state  (in  a  course  of  lectures  which  I  attended  when  at  Oxford),  that 
the  present  Fi'ench  soldiery  owe  their  stunted  appearance  to  the  conscription 
in  the  time  of  Napoleon,  which  drew  away  the  manhood  of  the  country,  leaving 
the  population  to  spring  from  immature  youths  or  exhausted  vieillards.—M. 


342         LORD  brougham's  levee. 

18  such,  that  it  infers  little  personal  respect  to  the  individual 
monarch  ;  but  the  practice  of  attending  the  levee  of  an  inferior 
personage  is  to  be  ascribed  to  the  respect  which  individual  emi- 
nence commands. 

When  Lord  Brougham  announced  his  levees,  it  could  not  be 
known  whether  he  should  receive  the  homage  of  the  aristoc- 
racy, to  whom  it  was  not  supposed  that  his  Lordship's  politics 
were  very  amicable.  It  was,  moreover,  thought  that  the  re- 
publican, or,  to  speak  more  guardedly,  the  Whig  Lord-Chan- 
cellor, would  care  little  for  a  custom  in  which  there  was  no 
manifest  utility.  He  had  declared  that  the  gewgaws  of  office 
delighted  him  not ;  and  I  dare  say  he  would  fain  bring  his 
mind  to  believe  that  all  ceremonial  was  idle,  perhaps  con- 
temptible. But  it  is  the  greatest  mistake  to  suppose  that  Lord 
Brougham  is  inattentive  to  the  ceremonies  with  which  his  high 
place  is  surrounded.  A  careful  observer  will  see  clearly  that 
imposing  forms  are  perfectly  agreeable  to  his  mind ;  nobody 
could  ridicule  form  better,  so  long  as  he  held  no  situation  which 
required  the  observance  of  customary  rules  :  but,  elevated  to 
his  present  distinction,  it  is  plain  that  he  enjoys  all  the  little 
peculiarities  of  his  office.  Somebody  said  that  he  presided  in 
the  House  of  Lords  in  a  bar-wig,  and  instanced  the  fact  as  a 
proof  of  his  reforming  temper ;  but  it  was  not  true.  Accident 
may  have  obliged  him  to  take  his  seat  in  this  ungainly  form, 
but  he  had  no  purpose  of  deviating  from  the  ancient  full-bot- 
tom, and  he  is  now  to  be  seen  in  all  the  amplitude  of  the  olden 
fleece.  In  like  manner  he  observes  the  strict  regime^  so  fantas- 
tical to  a  stranger,  of  causing  counsel  to  be  shouted  for  from 
without,  although  they  are  actually  present,  and  he  adds  to 
the  oddness  of  this  custom  by  receiving  them  with  a  most  im- 
posing mien,  and  putting  on  his  cJiapeau  as  they  advance. 
This  is  a  form  for  which  the  model  is  not  to  be  found  in  the 
practice  of  his  immediate  predecessors.  It  is  possible,  how- 
ever, that  his  extensive  and  minute  reading  may  h^ve  made 
him  aware  that  Wolsey,  peradventure,  or  some  great  Chancel- 
lor of  old,  had  the  fancy  to  be  covered  when  the  suppliants 
approached.  Let  any  one  observe  with  what  studied  dignity 
he  performs  the  duty  of  announcing  the  royal  assent  to  act^ 


HISTORY   OF   HIS    PROMOTION.  343 

of  Parliament ;  he  assumes  a  solemnity  of  tone  for  which  his 
voice  is  not  ill  fitted,  but  which  is  unusual  Avith  him.  These 
small  circumstances,  and  many  such  which  might  be  mentioned, 
show  that  state  is  not  uncongenial  to  his  mind.  Why  should  it  ? 
His  weakness  consists  in  the  unreal  contempt  for  what  is  not 
really  contemptible. 

With  his  high  notions  of  office,  I  should  have  been  surprised 
if  he  had  foregone  the  levee ;  and  assuredly  he  has  not  reck- 
oned without  reason ;  for  a  more  splendid  or  flattering  pageant 
could  not  be  witnessed  than  that  which  his  rooms  exhibited. 
Unquestionably  the  most  remarkable  man  in  the  empire  at 
this  moment,  it  is  his  fortune  to  attract  the  honorable  regards 
of  all  who  are  distinguished  as  his  compeers.  It  is  not  my  in- 
tention to  offer  any  estimate  of  what  I  conceive  to  be  his  gen- 
uine worth,  as  he  may  be  appreciated  in  a  more  dispassionate 
time ;  I  speak  of  him  only  as  a  great  man  filling  a  very  large 
space  in  the  consideration  of  the  empire.  Judging  from  the 
throng  of  all  classes  upon  this  occasion,  whose  favor  is  desira- 
ble, no  man  is  more  popular.* 

**  To  us,  looking  back  upon  public  events,  it  may  now  appear  singular  that 
there  could  have  been  any  doubt,  on  the  part  of  the  Whigs,  on  taking  office, 
in  November,  1830,  of  Brougham's  claim  to  participate  in  "  the  spoils."  For 
nearly  twenty  years,  he  had  been  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  liberal  party  in  the 
House  of  Commons.  In  that  capacity  none  had  more  ably  or  consistently  ad- 
vocated education,  and  parliamentary,  and  law  reform.  On  Queen  Caroline's 
trial,  he  distinguished  himself  above  all  others,  and  his  advocacy  of  her  cause, 
while  it  precluded  him  from  Couit  favor,  greatly  endeared  him  to  the  public. 
In  1827,  he  strongly  supported  Canning's  Ministry,  but  declined,  it  is  said,  the 
office  of  Master  of  the  Rolls,  vacant  by  Lord  Lyndhurst's  elevation  to  the  Wool- 
sack. At  the  general  election  in  1830,  on  the  accession  of  William  IV.,  the 
gi-eat  County  of  York  returned  him,  without  his  competitor's  risking  a  contest, 
as  one  of  its  representatives.  He  pledged  himself  to  introduce  a  measure  of 
Parliamentai-y  Reform,  and  the  day  being  fixed  for  its  inti-oduction,  the  Wel- 
lington Cabinet  was  beaten  into  resignation,  whereupon  Lord  Grey  was  em- 
powered to  construct  a  liberal  Government.  The  post  of  Attorney-General 
(which  is  not  held  by  one  of  the  Executive)  was  offered  to  Brougham  and  de- 
clined. It  was  an  inferior  post,  for  Lord  Grey  actually  was  afraid  of  the  great 
genius  of  the  man  who  had  emphatically  become  "  the  observed  of  all  obser- 
vers." Afraid  that  Brougham's  plan  of  Parliamentaiy  Reform  w^ould  be  bolder 
and  better  than  that  promised  by  the  Whigs,  the  highest  office  was  offered  him 
and  accepted.     On  November  22,  1834,  he  took  his  seat  in  the  House  of  Lords, 


344  LORD  bkougham's  levee. 

His  levee  is  held  on  a  Saturday  evening,  at  the  unsuitable 
hour  of  ten  o'clock.  It  was  rather  late  before  I  could  come 
up,  and  I  found  the  whole  square  in  the  vicinity  of  his  resi- 
dence crowded  with  carriages.  Threading  one's  way  amid 
many  obstructions,  I  reached  the  house,  and  which  (to  observe 
on  a  matter  so  small)  I  should  remark  is  not  very  suitable  for 
the  residence  of  either  its  former  (Earl  Grey)  or  present  occu- 
pant. It  is  expected  that  a  noble  aristocrat  should  be  found 
in  ample  halls,  surrounded  by  suitable  magnificence,  but  this 
is  not  the  house  in  which  the  lordly  capital  of  the  peers  should 
be  lodged.  The  principal  rooms  are  of  moderate  dimensions, 
and  the  suite  consists  only  of  two.  It  was  not  surely  in  this 
house  that  Lord  Byron  found  the  family  of  Lord  Grey,  when 
he  formed  the  very  exalted  opinion  of  their  patrician  accom- 
plishments to  which  he  gives  expression  in  one  of  his  letters. 

The  preparations  for  announcement  were  those  which  are 
usually  observed.  The  Chancellor  took  his  place  at  a  corner 
of  the  room,  backed  by  his  chaplain,  and  was  soon  encircled 
by  the  visitants ;  his  dress  remarkably  plain,  being  a  simple 
suit  of  velvet  in  the  court  cut.  The  names  were  announced 
from  the  bottom  of  the  stairs,  and  each  person  as  he  entered 
walked  up  to  the  Chancellor  and  offered  his  respects.  The  num- 
bers were  so  great,  that  it  was  impossible  to  devote  any  marked 
attention  to  each ;  as  soon,  therefore,  as  the  visiter  had  made 
his  bow,  he  retired  into  the  throng,  or  took  his  departure  through 
the  adjoining  room.  I  was  not  present  at  the  first  of  the  levees 
which  were  held,  and  at  which  the  attendance  was  very  dis- 
tinguished ;  but  a  friend  who. was,  spoke  very  highly  of  the 
manner  in  which  the  Chancellor  performed  his  noviciate. 

•The  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  came  early,  and  was  very 
kindly  received.  He  was  followed  by  the  Archbishop  of  York 
and  several  other  bishops,  whose  attendance  gave  proof  that, 
differ  as  they  might  from  Lord  Brougham,  they  surely  did  not 

as  Baron  Brougham  and  Vaux,  and  Lord  High-Chancellor  of  England.  He 
held  this  office  for  four  years,  namely,  until  November,  1834.  While  Lord 
Erskine's  Chancery  Judgments  are  laughed  at  as  "  the  Apocryphal  Volume," 
those  of  Lord  Brougham,  collected  and  edited  by  Charles  Purton  Cooper,  the 
eminent  Chancery  barrister,  are  constantly  referred  to,  as  authoiity. —  M. 


"the  ikon  dqke." 


consider  liim  an  enemy  to  the  Church.*  There  is  something 
uncommonly  bland  in  the  appearance  and  expression  of  the  Pri- 
mate ;  he  is  the  very  reverse  of  the  full-blown  dignitary  who 
is  commonly  seen  in  high  places.  One's  notions  of  a  bishop 
are  apt  to  be  those  which  we  entertain  of  a  high-feeding  drone 
—  with  little  duty  that  is  of  much  real  consequence,  but  with  a 
most  exalted  notion  of  such  dut}'-  as  he  is  called  on  to  dis- 
charge. Not  so  the  present  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  :  I  mis- 
take his  character  extremely  if  he  is  not  a  meek  as  well  as  a 
highly-accomplished  servant  of  his  Master.  I  know  not 
how  he  ascended  to  the  primacy,  but  I  am  sure  that  it  is 
not  dishonored  in  his  hands.  Brougham  evidently  likes  his 
Grace. 

The  most  remarkable  visiter  of  that  evening  was  the  Duke 
of  Wellington.  The  croAvd  was  astonished,  and  I  dare  say 
the  Chancellor  himself  was  surprised,  when  his  name  was  sent 
up.  I  doubt  if  they  had  ever  met  in  the  same  room  before. 
Their  political  lives,  with  the  exception  of  the  Catholic  ques- 
tion, were  one  unvarying  course  of  opposition,  if  not  enmity. 
I  suspect  that  for  a  time  the  Duke  despised  the  talk  of  the 
lawyer;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  Brougham  had  often  declared 
that  the  respect  which  he  entertained  for  military  glory  was 
not  very  lofty.  Some  of  his  bitterest  tirades  were  levelled  at 
the  Duke  personally.  No  one  will  deny  that  it  was  high- 
minded  in  the  Duke  to  lay  aside  resentment  of  every  sort,  and 
offer  this  mark  of  respect  as  well  to  the  man  as  the  office.  The 
Chancellor  was  flattered  by  the  attention,  and  shook  the  Duke 
by  the  hand  very  cordially.  There  is  not  much  heartiness  of 
manner  about  the  Duke,  whatever  may  be  the  reality ;  and 
his  dry  features,  thinned  by  the  great  labors  in  which  his  life 
has  been  passed,  do  not  easily  or  readily  relax  into  a  smile ; 
but  on  this  occasion  it  Avas  remarked  that  his  countenance  was 
more  expressive  of  good-will  than  usual.f     He  engaged  in  con- 

*  Dr.  Howley,  Archbishop  of  Canterbuiy,  died  in  1848. —  Dr.  Harcourt, 
Archbishop  of  York,  died  in  1847. —  M. 

t  Brougham  and  Wellington  subsequently  became  intimate  friends.  On  one 
occasion,  Brougham  publicly  described  Wellington  as  "  the  most  magnanimous 
of  men."— M. 

15* 


346  LORD  brougham's  levee, 

versation  for  a  minute  or  two  witli  the  Chancellor,  and  then 
gave  place  to  the  subsequent  visiters  who  pressed  for  audience. 
His  Grrace  immediately  joined  some  military  friends  who  had 
previously  been  received. 

Not  the  least  remarkable  personage  in  the  room  was  the 
Lord- Advocate  of  Scotland.*  Brougham  and  he  are  very  old 
friends,  and  have  been  much  engaged  in  the  same  species  of 
literature.  Lord  Brougham  was  his  predecessor  in  the  editor- 
ship of  the  "Edinburgh  Review" — a  fact  which  is  not  gener- 
ally known,  but  which  is  certain.  Brougham  was  not  the  first 
editor,  having  filled  that  office  for  a  short  time  after  Sydney 
Smith  withdrew  from  the  situation.  Jeffrey  appeared  ex- 
tremely peHt  in  his  court-dress,  and  did  not  seem  very  much 
at  home  ;  he  was  acquainted  with  but  few  of  his  fellow-visiters, 
and  had  too  much  good  taste  to  occupy  much  of  the  Chancel- 
lor's attention.  They  did  not  seem  to  hold  any  conversation 
beyond  the  usual  commonplace  inquiries. 

Ascending  the  stairs,  I  was  met  by  a  hobbling  old  Lord  — 
Carnarvon  by  name.  There  is  nothing  very  courtly  or  digni- 
fied in  the  appearance  of  this  nobleman.t  He  has  been  a 
Whig  the  greater  part  of  his  life,  but  affects  to  be  greatly  dis- 
mayed at  the  Reform  Bill ;  and  has  ftiore  than  once  run  a  tilt 
against  the  Ministers,  but  with  no  very  marked  success.  Arm- 
in-arm  with  Lord  Carnarvon  came  the  gay  and  the  good-look- 

*  Francis  Jeffrey,  was  bom  in  1773,  and  was  one  of  Sir  Walter  Scott's  con- 
temporaries and  early  associates.  Called  to  the  bar  in  1794,  he  soon  obtained 
a  high  reputation  for  eloquence,  and  gradually  got  into  practice,  but  was  chiefly 
eminent,  during  nearly  thirty  years,  for  his  connection  with  the  Edinburgh  Re- 
view, as  contributor  and  editor.  The  first  number  appeared  October  25,  1802, 
and  three  editions  were  exhausted  in  as  many  weeks.  It  soon  became,  what 
it  has  ceased  to  be,  the  able  and  recognised  organ  of  the  liberal  party  in  Great 
Britain.  In  1829,  when  the  profession  chose  him  Dean  of  the  Faculty  (of  law), 
Jeffrey  retired  from  the  Review.  In  1830,  he  was  appointed  Lord-Advocate  of 
Scotland,  under  the  Grey  Ministry,  and  entered  Parliament,  where  he  by  no 
means  distinguished  himself.  In  1834,  he  was  promoted  to  the  Scottish  bench, 
where,  applying  all  the  great  powers  of  his  mind  to  the  task,  he  became  one 
of  the  best  Judges  that  ever  adorned  that  high  station.     He  died  in  1850. — M. 

t  Heniy  George  Herbert,  second  Earl  of  Carnarvon,  bom  in  1772.  died  in 
1833,  aged  sixty-one.  His  son  and  successor,  then  Lord  Porchester,  had  dis- 
tinguished himself  as  the  author  of"  The  Moor,"  and  other  poems. —  M. 


A    BATCH   OF    NOBLES.  34Y 

ing  Earl  of  Errol,*  blooming  with  the  most  healthful  roseate ; 
and  immediately  behind  followed  Sir  Robert  Wilson.  Time 
and  hard  service  have  made  little  impression  on  a  set  of  not 
very  extraordinary  features.  There  is  a  buoyancy  about  this 
historic  soldier  which  bespeaks  a  good  heart.f  He  seems  to 
have  lost  much  of  his  fancy  for  senatorial  display  ;  and,  truth 
to  tell,  Parliament  is  not  the  place  of  all  others  in  which  he 
has  been  destined  to  shine.  He  is  one  of  the  few  whose  hard 
fortune  in  less  auspicious  limes  has  stood  him  in  good  part  in 
later  days. 

On  entering  the  room,  I  was  struck  by  the  superior  brilliancy 
of  the  military  costumes,  always  the  most  prominent  at  such 
times.  Military  rank  is  both  common  and  honorable,  and  its 
apparel  seems  to  be  in  favor  with  all  classes.  Hence  it  is  that 
many,  such  as  the  lieutenants  of  counties,  whose  duty  is  exclu- 
sively of  a  civil  nature,  adopt  the  fashions  of  the  army.  There 
were  half  a  dozen  Lords-Lieutenant  in  the  room,  among  whom 
I  particularly  observed  the  Duke  of  Argyle.f  I  am  told  that 
his  Grace  is  a  man  of  talent ;  and  his  fine  features,  the  remains 
of  what  rendered  the  Marquis  of  Lorn  one  of  the  most  eminent- 
ly handsome  men  of  his  time,  are  now  thoughtful  and  melan- 
choly. The  present  A^dministration  has  given  the  Great  Seal 
of  Scotland  to  the  Duke  of  Argyle ;  and  in  duty  he  is  found 

*  The  late  Lord  Errol  (whose  Earldom  was  created  in  1453),  was  Heredi- 
tary Lord  High  Constable  of  Scotland,  which  is  the  highest  hereditary  distinc- 
tion in  the  United  Kingdom,  after  those  of  the  Royal  Family.  He  married  one 
of  the  illegitimate  daughtei's  of  William  IV.  and  Mrs.  Jordan,  the  actress,  and 
died  in  1846,  aged  forty-five. —  M. 

t  Sir  Robert  Wilson,  who  much  distinguished  himself  by  his  military  services 
from  1793  to  1815,  aided  in  the  escape  of  Lavalette,  from  Paris,  in  the  latter 
year.  In  1821,  for  taking  the  popular  side,  at  the  funeral  of  Queen  Caroline, 
he  was  dismissed  from  the  British  army.  A  public  subscription  indemnified 
him  from  the  pecuniai-y  loss,  and  he  was  reinstated  some  years  after.  From 
1818  to  1831  he  represented  Southwark  in  Parliament.  In  1841,  he  was  raised 
to  the  rank  of  full  General.  In  1842,  he  was  appointed  Governor  of  Gibraltar, 
and  had  just  returned  from  that  post,  after  seven  years'  of  command,  when  he 
died  suddenly.  May,  1849,  aged  seventy-two. —  M. 

X  The  sixth  Duke  of  Argyle,  born  in  1768,  married  Lady  Caroline  Villiers 
(who. had  previously  been  the  wife  of,  and  had  obtained  a  divorce  firora,  th^ 
Marquis  of  Anglesey),  and  died  in  October,  1839. —  M. 


348       "   LORD  brougham's  leyee. 

at  the  levee  of  its  Chancellor.  Along  with  his  Grace  were 
several  other  peers  of  ducal  rank,  but  whose  fortunes  were  no 
w£ij  interesting  to  me. 

After  I  had  paid  my  respects  to  the  Chancellor,  there  came 
tripping  up  the  Marquis  of  Bristol*  with  a  springy  step,  which 
he  must  surely  have  acquired  at  the  old  court  of  France ;  for  I 
am  sure  that  no  such  movement  could  be  attained  on  English 
ground.  The  elasticity  of  this  noble  Lord  was  such  that,  when 
once  put  in  motion,  he  continued  to  spring  up  and  down  in  the 
manner  of  the  Chinese  figures  which  are  hawked  by  the  Ital- 
ian toy-venders.  Had  I  been  told  that  the  head  of  the  house 
of  Newry  was  a  dancing-master,  who  had  not  yet  learned  the 
present  modes,  I  should  certainly  have  believed  the  story  with- 
out scruple  if  I  had  met  him  anywhere  else. 

He  had  no  sooner  left  the  Chancellor,  than  he  was  laid  hold 
of  by  a  fidgetty  solicitor,!  who  was  the  only  member  of  his 
class  in  the  room,  and  who,  I  understand,  is  a  sort  of  favorite 
of  the  Chancellor.  The  obsequious  grin  and  the  affected  ease 
of  this  worthy  do  not  convey  any  very  favorable  impression 
on  his  behalf.  He  was  solicitor  for  the  Queen,  and  in  this 
capacity  had  formed  an  intimacy  with  her  chief  counsel,  which 
an  ill-natured  person  would  perhaps  think  makes  him  now  for- 
get in  some  measure  the  great  disparity  between  their  present 
condition.  The  Chancellor  gave  no  discouragement  to  his  fa- 
miliarity. 

A  certain  Sir  Something  Noel  came  up  immediately  after- 
ward, of  whom  nothing  more  remarkable  could  be  told  than 
that  he  was  the  relative  of  Lady  Byron  ;  and  is,  I  suppose,  the 
same  person  of  whom  Byron  expresses  himself  favorably  when 
a  temporary  illness  of  his  lady  shortly  after  their  marriage 

*  Nephew  of  the  celebrated  Earl  of  Bristol,  Bishop  of  DeiTy,  of  whom  men- 
tiqp  has  already  been  made.  In  June,  1826,  he  was  created  Marquis.  He  is 
yet  alive  (January,  1854),  and  is  aged  eighty-four. —  M. 

+  This  "  fidgetty  Solicitor"  was  William  Vizard,  subsequently  made  Secretary 
of  Btinki-upts  by  Lord  Brougham,  in  1832,  a  post  worth  twelve  hundred  pounds 
sterling  a  year,  which  he  occupied  for  twenty  years  (until  1852),  and  then 
contrived  to  get  appointed,  on  its  abolition,  to  an  office  equally  valuable,  which 
he  retains.  Hip  connection  with  the  Queen's  trial  made  William  Vizard's  foitv 
tune,  and  he  is  now  a  large  landed  proprietor  in  Gloucestershire. —  M. 


SIR   JAMES   SCARLETT.  349 

looked  rather  gestatory.*  A  variety  of  lords,  squires,  generals, 
ossa  27inoviinatn,  followed,  for  whom  the  Cliancellor  cared  per- 
haps about  as  much  as  I  did. 

At  length  Sir  James  Scarlett  was  announced,  and  the  Chan- 
cellor left  his  place  to  meet  him.  His  welcome  was  very 
hearty.  Brougham  was  doubtless  gratified  by  this  token  of 
respect  from,  a  man  who  was  indisputably  his  leader  in  the 
courts,!  and  for  whose  forensic  abilities  it  is  known  that  he 
entertains,  and  has  often  expressed,  the  highest  admiration. 
The  position  of  the  two  men  was  singular,  and  to  the  ex-attor- 
ney not  very  enviable.  Scarlett  was  in  high  practice  before 
Brougham  was  even  called  to  the  bar.  He  kept  ahead  of  him 
in  their  profession  throughout ;  and  twice  he  had  filled  the 
first  places  at  the  bar,  when  the  respective  attainments  of  these 
eminent  persons  were  such,  that  if  Brougham  had  been  placed 
before  him,  Scarlett  would  have  had  just  ground  of  complaint, 
and  the  bar  would  have  unanimously  decried  the  appointment. 
Now,  however,  by  one  of  those  cross-accidents  which  will  occur 
in  the  most  fortunate  lives,  Scarlett  was,  with  strict  justice  and 
universal  acquiescence,  placed  below  his  former  competitor, 
and  in  direct  apposition  to  all  the  early  friends  with  whom  he 

*  Sir  Ralph  Milbanke's  wife  was  sister  of  Viscount  Wentworth,  and  she  suc- 
ceeded to  the  estates,  on  condition  that  her  name  should  be  changed  to  Noel. 
Her  daughter  was  mamed  to  Lord  Byron,  who  prefixed  the  name  of  Noel  to 
his  own,  on  his  mother-in-law's  death.  Sir  Ralph  Noel  died  in  1825,  and  Mr. 
Shell  alludes  to  his  relative  and  successor.  Sir  John  Peneston  Milbanke,  who 
dropped  the  name  of  Noel  altogether. — M. 

t  Perhaps  this  is  the  place  where  I  should  state  the  cost  of  the  administration 
of  justice,  which  foi-ms  an  important  item  in  the  national  expenditure  of  Great 
Britain.  In  1852,  as  appears  by  Parliamentaiy  returns,  the  whole  amount  was 
£2,104,196,  of  which  £645,243  was  for  Courts  of  Justice  (including  salaries 
of  Judges  and  other  officials),  £891,542  for  police  and  criminal  prosecution, 
and  £567,411  for  correction.  In  October,  1853,  the  Reverend  Mr.  Clay,  chap- 
lain of  the  House  of  Connection  in  Preston  (EngUuid)in  his  annual  report  to  the 
magistrates,  estimates  the  loss  caused  to  the  public  by  fifteen  pickpockets,  whose 
career  he  has  traced,  including  the  value  of  the  property  stolen,  expenses  of 
prosecution,  and  maintenance  in  jail,  at  £26,500.  That  is  to  say,  England 
was  at  an  expense  of  £1,766  for  each  of  these  worthies  —  a  sum,  one  tithe 
of  which,  if  judiciously  applied  at  the  proper  time,  would  probably  have  suf- 
ficed to  make  them  useful  members  of  society. —  M. 


350  LORD  brougham's  levee. 

commenced  his  political  career  *  It  was  matter  of  necessity 
and  of  course  that  he  should  go  out  when  his  employers  were 
obliged  to  surrender  office ;  and  no  man  could  complain  that 
Brougham  should  then  be  elevated  to  a  distinction,  which  in 
other  circumstances  Scarlett  might  have  thought  his  own  by 
indisputable  right.  The  Chancellor  remained  longer  in  con- 
versation with  Sir  James  than  any  of  the  other  distinguished 
persons  who  appeared.  Indeed,  his  anxiety  to  show  this  at- 
tention produced  rather  awkward  effects.  While  they  were 
closely  together,  Jocky  Bell,  as  he  is  commonly  called,  the 
very  eminent  Chancery  barrister,  came  in  sight;  but  he  was 
suffered  to  waddle  about  for  some  time  before  he  caught  the 
eye  of  the  Chancellor.t  Before  the  conversation  with  Sir 
James  was  finished,  there  were  a  good  many  others  in  the 
same  unreceived  plight,  and  the  Chancellor  was  obliged  to  give 
them  a  hasty  discharge. 

The  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons  was  then  announced. 
Brougham  and  he  met  as  warm  friends,  though  certainly  men 
having  little  in  kindred.  In  point  of  talent  there  is  no  ground 
of  comparison  ;  yet  it  may  be  doubted  whether  they  are  not 
nearly  as  great  in  their  own  way.  I  have  no  notion  of  the 
place  which  the  Speaker  held  in  Parliament  before  he  was 
elected  to  the  chair,  and  I  know  few  situations  which  require 

*  It  was  said  that  Scarlett,  afterward  Lord  Abinger,  "  ratted"  at  the  wrong 
time.  He  had  been  liberal  in  politics  up  to  1828  (and  had  been  Canning's 
Attorney-General  in  1827),  but  took  office  with  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  then 
an  avowed  Tory,  and  was  as  intolerant  as  renegades,  whether  political  or  reli- 
gious, usually  are.  In  1830,  when  the  Whigs  came  into  power,  Scarlett  had 
to  resign  office.  But,  in  December,  1834,  when  the  post  of  Chief-Baron  of 
the  Exchequer  became  vacant  by  Lord  Lyndhurst's  taking  the  Groat  Seal, 
Scarlett  was  appointed,  receiving  a  peerage  shortly  after,  and  continued  Judge 
until  his  death  in  1844. —  Had  he  remained  with  the  Whig  party,  le  would 
probably  have  been  appointed  their  Lord-Chancellor  in  1830. —  M. 

t  "  Jock  Bell,"  as  he  was  called,  was  a  fiiend  and  contemporary  of  Lord 
Eldon's.  He  was  notorious  for  writing  so  badly  that  it  was  said  he  wrote 
three  hands;  one,  which  nobody  but  himself  could  read;  a  second  (that  in 
which  he  gave  his  opinion  on  cases)  which  none  but  his  clerk  could  decipher, 
and  a  third  which  neither  himself  nor  clerk  could  make  out.  It  is  a  fact, 
and  the  foundation  of  a  passage  in  "  Pickwick,"  that  Jock  Bell's  clerk  real- 
ized a  large  income  by  making  readable  copies  of  his  employer's  opinions, 
which  wei  3  greatly  in  request,  on  account  of  their  ability. —  M. 


THE   SPEAKER.  351 

more  tact  and  mana-genient.  In  these  qualifications  the  pres- 
ent Speaker  is  signally  gifted.*  He  brings  a  degree  of  good- 
nature to  the  office  which  no  event,  however  untoward,  can 
ruf&e  :  his  calmness  never  forsakes  him ;  he  is  the  same  easy, 
dignified  chairman  at  all  times.  The  Commons  are  a  truly 
turbulent  body,  but  they  are  not  impatient  of  his  sway.  In 
all  emergencies  he  is  vigorously  supported  :  in  his  hands,  the 
authority  of  his  office,  though  rarely  exercised,  has  lost  none 
of  its  force.  Brougham  himself  was  one  of  the  most  fiery 
spirits  in  this  hot  region ;  but  a  word  from  the  Speaker  would 
calm  him  in  an  instant.  Among  other  qualifications  for  com- 
mand, he  is  possessed  of  a  fine,  mellow,  deep-toned  voice, 
which,  while  it  powerfully  enunciates  "  Order,"  frees  the 
command  from  all  harshness  or  severity.  As  the  first  com- 
moner in  the  land,  and  a  truly  estimable  gentleman,  he  was 
entitled  to  be  well  received.  But  I  doubt,  if  deprived  of  his 
chair,  whether  he  could  insure  much  regard  on  the  score  of  his 
talents.  Let  me  not,  however,  shade  the  picture  which  I  have 
already  drawn  ;  it  is  manifest  that  Mr.  Sutton  is  a  general  fa- 
vorite. Every  one  was  eager  to  pass  a  minute  or  two  with 
him.  I  was  much  pleased  to  witness  a  frank  greeting  between 
him  and  old  William  Smith,  who  is  not  now  in  the  House  of 
Commons;  but  who,  before  he  left  it,  enjoyed  the  patriarchal 
rank  of  being  the  father  of  the  body.f  The  Speaker  told  him 
that  they  had  not  much  mended  since  he  left.  Longer  speeches 
—  more  of  them  —  later  hours,  and  fewer  divisions  —  were  the 
characteristics  of  the  session,  compared  with  its  predecessors. 

Lord  Farnham,!  a  bluff,  weather-beaten  old  Irish  Lord  — 
the  unflinching  enemy  of  the  Catholics,  and  the  equally-deter- 

*  Charles  Manners  Sutton,  speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons  from  1817  to 
1834;  created  Viscount  Canterbury  in  1835;  and  died  July,  1845.  He  was 
very  popular  as  speaker,  and  allowed  himself  to  be  re-elected  (after  the  Reform 
Bill  was  passed  in  1832)  at  the  especial  request  of  the  Grey  Ministry. —  M 

t  This  William  Smith,  who  had  a  seat  in  Parliament  for  forty-six  years,  was 
latterly  Member  for  Norwich.  He  attacked  Southey,  in  Parliament,  as  a  "  ran- 
corous renegade,"  and  was  replied  to  by  the  poet  in  nervous  and  indignant 
prose.  William  Smith  was  ultra-liberal  in  politics.  He  died  in  1835,  aged 
seventy-nine. —  M. 

t  John  Barry  Maxwell,  fifth  Lord  Faniham,  born  in  17G7,  died  in  1838. —  M- 


352  LORD  brougham's  levee. 

mined  enemy  of  Reform  — got  hold  of  the  Speaker;  and,  in 
the  com'se  of  a  brief  conversation,  the  latter  informed  him  that 
for  eight  entire  days  and  nights  he  had  never  been  from  under 
the  roof  of  the  House  of  Commons.  The  House  had  been  sit- 
ting from  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  till  three  and  four 
o'clock  in  the  morning;  and  then  the  business  of  the  commit- 
tees commenced  at  ten  o'clock,  to  Avhich  he  was  obliged  to 
give  a  good  deal  of  attention.  He  spoke  of  the  labor  as  being 
greater  than  any  physical  strength  could  endure.  When  this 
fact  is  known,  it  ceases  to  be  wonderful  that  he  should  be 
anxious,  as  has  been  long  reported,  to  exchange  the  conspicu- 
ous and  most  honorable  situation  which  he  now  holds,  for  that 
of  the  youngest  peerage,  and  become  second  to  such  insigniii- 
cancies  as  Bexley  and  Sidmouth.*  Leaving  Farnham,  the 
Speaker  was  engaged  for  a  short  time  with  Lord  Nugent  and 
the  Marquis  of  Olanricarde.f  Both  of  these  noble  Lords  ap- 
peared in  the  splendid  costume  which  I  believe  is  characteris- 
tic of  the  diplomatic  corps.  Nugent  is  evidently  a  person  of 
the  most  accomplished  manners.  The  perpetual  play  of  good- 
humor  on  his  agreeable  features  shows  that  the  severity  of  his 
politics  does  not  arise  from  any  harshness  of  disposition.  It 
will  be  recollected  that  he  was  the  subject  of  one  of  Canning's 
pleasantries  in  regard  to  the  Portuguese  expedition ;  which, 
however,  had  little  point,  unless  his  Lordship  had  been  a  very 
stout  man  —  but  this  is  not  the  fact.  A  much  larger  person 
than  Lord  Nugent  would  have  occasioned  no  inconvenience  to 

*  The  late  Nicholas  Vansittart,  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  from  1812  to 
1823,  was  created.  Baron  Bexley.  Heniy  Addington,  successively  Speaker, 
Premier,  and  Home  Secretary,  was  created  Viscount  Sidmouth  in  1805,  and 
died  in  1844.— M. 

t  Lord  Nugent,  born  in  1789,  sat  in  Parliament  over  twenty  years;  was 
Lord-Commissioner  of  the  Ionian  Islands  from  1832  to  1835  ;  and  died  in 
November,  1850.  His  politics  were  liberal,  and  he  had  considerable  literary 
taste. —  The  Marquis  of  Clanricardo,  Canning's  son-in-law,  was  born  in  1802, 
represents  the  De  Burgh  or  Burke  family,  and  claims  to  be  descended  from 
Charlemagne.  He  has  been  Ambassador  to  Russia,  and  Postmaster-General. 
Before  1831,  there  was  a  good  deal  of  town-talk  about  a  young  man  of  prop- 
erty having  been  "  pigeoned"  at  cards,  at  Richmond,  near  London,  and  it  was 
said  that  Lord  Clanricarde  was  one  of  the  party ;  but  the  scandal  blew  over, 
and  no  proof  was  given  of  the  imputations  on  "  Uie  noble  Marquis." — M. 


LORD   DENMAN.  353 

the  heavy  Falmouth  van.  Lord  Clanricarde  is  only  remarka- 
ble for  his  connection  with  Canning.  His  countenance  is  any- 
thing but  pleasing  :  his  fondness  for  play  is  well  known,  and 
had  at  one  time  placed  him  in  a  disagreeable  dilemma. 

The  last  person  of  note  who  arrived,  before  I  departed,  was 
Sir  Thomas  Denman.*  The  Chancellor  was  engaged  with 
some  one  at  the  moment,  and  nothing  passed  between  them 
but  an  exchange  of  bows.  It  was  nearly  ten  years  since  I  had 
seen  Brougham  and  Denman  together :  the  Queen's  trial  was 
then  the  all-engrossing  topic  of  public  consideration.  Who 
could  then  have  foretold  that  these  men  would  have  in  so  short 
a  space  won  the  confidence  of  a  sovereign,  whom  they  attacked 
with  a  degree  of  virulence  which,  even  in  those  days  of  party 
violence,  was  generally  condemned  ]  The  change  in  feeling 
is  creditable  alike  to  all. 

*  Thomas  Denman,  bom  in  February,  1779,  and  created  Baron  Denman,  of 
Dovedale,  in  the  County  Derby,  in  Maich,  1834,  was  son  of  a  physician  in  Lon- 
don. He  was  called  to  the  bar  in  1806  ;  went  the  Midland  circuit,  entered 
Parliament  in  1818;  became  Solicitor-General  to  Queen  Caroline  in  1820  ;  was 
elected  Common  Sergeant  of  London,  in  1822  ;  was  made  King's  Counsel, 
with  a  patent  of  precedency,  in  1826  ;  was  made  Attorney-General,  under  the 
Grey  Ministiy  in  1830;  was  made  Chief  Justice  of  England  in  1832;  raised 
to  the  peerage  in  1834  ;  and  compelled,  under  Lord  John  Russell's  Ministry,  in 
1850,  to  resign,  on  the  plea  of  advanced  years,  to  make  room  for  Lord  Camp- 
bell (only  two  years  his  junior),  for  whom  a  job  of  the  same  character  had  been 
perpetrated,  in  1841,  when  Lord  Plunket  was  literally  turned  out  of  the  Iiish 
Chancellorship,  in  order  to  give  Lord  Campbell  a  legal  claim  to  a  life-pension 
of  four  thousand  pounds  sterling.  As  an  advocate,  Denman  was  bold  and  elo- 
quent; his  denunciation,  on  the  Queen's  trial,  of  the  Duke  of  Clarence  (after- 
ward William  IV.)  as  a  "  royal  slanderer,"  was  decided  and  fearless  —  ten  years 
afterward,  this  prince,  as  Sovereign,  accepted  Denman  as  iiis  first  law  officer. 
As  a  judge,  he  was  just  and  constitutional.  In  politics,  he  has  always  been 
liberal.  In  Parliament,  he  was  a  ready  debater.  During  the  Reform  Bill  dis- 
cussions. Sir  C.  Wetherell  compared  Old  Sarum  (for  which  three  men  elected 
two  members)  to  Macedon.  "  Yes,"  replied  Denman,  "  Macedon  was  ruled 
by  an  Alexander:"  —  an  East  India  Director,  named  Alexander,  being  one  of 
the  (so-called)  representatives  of  this  nominal  borough,  with  one  house,  three 
voters,  and  two  Members,  while  Manchester,  population  four  hundred  thou- 
sand, was  wholly  unrepresented — M. 


STATE  OF  PARTIES  IN  DUBLIN,  IN  1831. 

On  the  5th  of  this  month  of  May  [1831],  my  business  led  me 
into  the  Four  Courts,  Dublin ;  and  on  the  way,  by  a  train  of 
associations  too  obvious  to  require  to  be  analyzed,  my  mind 
involuntarily  reverted  to  the  past,  and  took  note  of  the  vicis- 
situdes produced  since  I  last  wrote.  But  it  was  only  when 
I  found  myself  in  that  emporium  of  law,  and  politics,  and  gos- 
sip—  the  Hall  of  the  Four  Courts  —  that  I  felt  in  all  their 
force  the  variety  and  extent  of  those  mutations.  The  scene 
and  the  majority  of  the  actors  were  still  the  same,  and  the 
general  resemblance,  at  the  first  view,  appeared  unimpaired ; 
but,  upon  a  nearer  scrutiny,  how  striking  and  singular  had 
been  the  changes ! 

Of  these  actors,  for  instance,  one  of  the  first  that  attracted 
my  attention  was  Mr.  William  Bellew,  a  Roman  Catholic  bar- 
rister of  great  personal  respectability,  and  of  just  repute  in  cer- 
tain departments  of  his  profession.  In  his  general  aspect  there 
was  little  perceptible  alteration.  Time,  as  if  from  a  kindly 
feeling  toward  an  old  acquaintance,  seemed  to  have  spared 
him  more  than  younger  men.  I  found  the  same  spire-like  alti- 
tude of  frame  ;  the  same  solemn,  spectral  stride  ;  the  same  grave 
and  somewhat  querulous,  but  not  undignified  cast  of  feature. 
"  In  his  own  proper  person,"  in  face  and  form,  Mr.  Bellew  was 
such  as  I  had  seen  him  in  his  penal  days ;  but  what  a  transfig- 
uration had  been  accomplished  in  his  gown !  How  omnipo- 
.  tent  must  have  been  that  act  of  Parliament  which  had  substi- 
tuted his  present  rustling  silk  attire  for  the  dingy,  tattered 
fustian,  in  which  I  had  so  often  seen  him  haunting  the  pre- 
cincts of  the  Court  of  Chancery,  and  which  he  had  vowed  to 


NICHOLAS   PURCEL   o'gORMAN.  355 

wear  while  a  rag  of  it  remained,  as  an  ensign  of  reproach  to 
the  presiding  bigot  of  the  court !  But  Lord  Manners  and  his 
tenets  had  passed  away,  and  Mr.  Belle w's  epitaph  may  state 
that  he  too,  in  his  generation,  was  one  of  his  Majesty's  counsel- 
at-law. 

My  eye,  turning  from  Mr.  Bellew,  soon  rested  upon  several 
other  barristers  of  his  creed,  who,  like  him,  had  been  taking 
the  benefit  of  the  statute.  Among  them,  and  apparently  the 
youngest  of  the  group,  was  Mr.  O'Loghlin,  upon  whom  Emanci- 
pation had  fortunately  come  just  at  a  period  of  his  career 
when  promotion,  being  possible,  was  inevitable.  He  is  already 
one  of  the  three  sergeants,  and,  if  the  orisons  of  the  public  can 
confer  length  of  days,  the  highest  judicial  office  is  his  certain 
destination. 

But  the  most  singular  of  those  metamorphoses,  which,  when 
I  last  addressed  you,  it  would  have  been  maniacal  to  have  pre- 
dicted, was  exhibited  in  the  personal  identity  and  present  offi- 
cial attributes  of  the  worthy  ex-Secretary  of  the  ex-Catholic 
Association,  Mr.  Nicholas  Purcel  O'Gorman.  This  excellent 
and  best-tempered  of  organized  beings,  who,  during  a  life  de- 
voted to  the  angry  politics  of  Ireland,  has  made  as  many  friends 
as  another  would  have  created  enemies  —  who  was  ever  frank 
and  fearless  in  the  expression  of  his  opinions,  even  though  one 
of  those  opinions  was  and  is  that  "  St.  Paul  was  a  decided 
Orangeman"  —  now  stood  before  me,  transformed  into  nothing 
less  than  a  public  functionary,  by  title  Oursitor,  of  that  very 
court  in  which  Mr.  Saurin  had  pleaded  and  Lord  Manners  had 
presided.  The  selection,  I  am  bound  to  add,  has  been  pro- 
nounced by  the  public,  from  whose  discernment  in  such  mat- 
ters there  is  no  appeal,  to  have  been  worthy  of  the  exalted 
person  to  whom,  fortunately  for  Ireland,  higher  functions  than 
the  extension  of  mere  acts  of  considerateness  toward  meritori- 
ous individuals  have  been  again  committed. 

I  approached  the  group,  to  whom  Mr.  O'Gorman,  who  had 
been  recently  sworn  in,  was  detailing  with  humorous  exagger- 
ation the  weighty  responsibilities  that  had  descended  upon  his 
rather  Atlantean  shoulders.  The  Cursitor's  office,  I  collected 
from  him.  was  one  of  the  great  fountain-heads  of  justice,  whence 


356  STATE   OF    PARTIES    IN    DUBLIN. 

litigation  flowed  in  streams  or  torrents  throngh  the  land.  It 
was  emphatically  the  officina  hrevmin,  the  inner  temple  of  ori- 
ginal writs,  and  the  Cursitor  the  high-priest,  without  Avhose 
signature,  now  Avritten  with  majestic  brevity,  "  O'Gorman," 
those  sacred  documents  would  want  their  legal  potency.  I 
was  gratified,  however,  to  hear  Mr.  O'Gorman  add,  which  he 
did  with  a  glance  of  no  doubtful  meaning  at  one  of  his  audi- 
tors, who  had  been  an  unsuccessful  expectant  under  the  old 
regime,  that  his  hierarchal  cares  were  in  some  measure  soothed 
by  sundry  daily  and  not  unwelcome  offerings  from  the  devo- 
tees at  the  shrine  over  which  he  had  been  appointed  to  pre- 
side. It  was  an  office  of  trust  coupled  with  emolument,  a  co- 
incidence which  Mr.  O'Gorman,  though  a  stanch  reformer,  very 
justly  pronounced  to  be  not  incongruous. 

These  are  single  instances  of  the  changes  which  the  surface 
presented,  but  I  could  multiply  them  without  number ;  wher- 
ever I  looked  around,  I  found  abundant  evidences,  had  I  other- 
wise been  unaware  of  the  fact,  that  the  genius  of  Mr.  Gregory,* 
no  longer  presided  in  the  government  of  Ireland.  Eeligious 
peace,  and  never  was  a  peace  more  just  and  necessary,  had 
been  proclaimed ;  and,  after  it,  had  followed  in  due  course  the 
gradual  decline  of  as  hateful  a  faction  as  had  ever  desolated 
and  insulted  a  devoted  country.  There  was,  however,  no  want 
of  excitement.  It  had  changed  its  character,  but  was  as  active 
in  its  way  as  in  those  dreary  times  when  Mr.  Lefroy's  theology 
and  Master  Ellis's  statesmanship  found  favor  at  the  Castle. 
The  groups  of  animated  bustlers  in  the  Hall  were  no  longer 
discussing  the  divided  allegiance  of  the  Catholics,  or  holding 
a  drum-head  inquiry  over  Mr.  Shell's  last  speech  at  the  Asso- 
ciation, but  much  was  said  of  schedule  A  —  of  its  multiform 
abominations  by  the  smaller  and  more  hopeless  politicians  — 
of  its  wisdom  and  necessity  by  others,  and  among  them  not  a 
few  who  conceived  it  to  be  both  wise  and  necessary  to  declare 
their  opinions  in.  favor  of  reform.     But  I  soon  discovered  that 

*  Of  William  Gregoiy  (who  was  Privy  Councillor  and  under-Secretaiy  for 
Ireland)  mention  has  already  been  made  in  one  of  the  notes  on  Lord  Norbury, 
page  36,  in  this  volume.  Mr.  Gregory  was  a  "  Protestant  Ascendency"  man. 
His  son  repre.sented  Dublin,  in  Parliament,  for  a  time. —  M. 


THE   CANDroATES.  357 

the  buzz  around  me  turned  upon  a  matter  of  a  still  more  imme- 
diate interest ;  an  active  canvass  was  going  forward.  The 
Dublin  election  was  fixed  for  the  following  day ;  and  the  pop- 
ular party,  in  perfect  accordance  upon  this  occasion  with  the 
wishes  of  the  Government,  had  determined  upon  attempting  a 
decisive  blow.  Committees  had  been  sitting ;  subscription-lists 
opened  ;  Mr.  William  Murphy  sent  for ;  an  earnest  but  amica- 
ble conflict  of  opinion  had  ensued  :  Mr.  Murphy,  with  the  cau- 
tion of  long  experience,  was  strenuous  in  his  advice  that  tliey 
should  run  no  risks,  but,  by  concentrating  their  forces,  secure 
the  return  of  one  member.  "  Delenda  est  Carthago,'^  was  the 
cry  of  Sergeant  O'Loghlin  and  Mr.  Blake,  and  the  bolder 
counsel  had  prevailed  :  two  reform  candidates  had  been  started 
against  the  corporation  of  Dublin. 

The  competitors  upon  this  stirring  occasion  were  the  late 
members,  Messrs.  Moore  and  Shaw,  who  rested  their  preten- 
sions on  their  love  of  corporations,  and  their  hatred  of  reform ; 
Mr.  (now  Sir  Robert)  Harty,*  the  Lord-Mayor  of  Dublin,  and 
Mr.  Louis  Perrin,  an  eminent  member  of  the  Irish  bar.  The 
two  latter  announced  themselves  as  sturdy  reformers. 

Of  Mr.  George  Moore  I  can  not  tell  you  much,  for  I  only 
know  of  him  what  the  public  knows.t  He  is,  I  should  sup- 
pose, between  fifty  and  sixty  years  of  age.  There  is  nothing 
remarkable  in  his  face  or  person.  He  is  a  man  of  mild  man- 
ners and  violent  opinions ;  can  make  a  long  speech  on  most 
subjects,  either  in  or  out  of  Parliament ;  is  the  proprietor  of  an 
ample  sinecure  in  one  of  our  courts ;  and  much  regarded  by 
his  personal  acquaintances.  The  only  singular  events  in  the 
history  of  his  life  that  I  have  heard  recorded  were,  his  first 
return  for  the  city  of  Dublin,  and  an  incident  connected  with 
it.  The  day  preceding  that  fixed  for  the  election  had  closed, 
and  the  corporation,  still  in  search  of  a  fit  and  proper  nominee, 

*  Sir  Robert  Harty,  who  was  made  a  Baronet  in  September,  1831,  was  a 
liberal  :n  politics.  He  was  an  Alderman  of  the  old  Dublin  Corporation,  and 
was  Lord-Mayor  in  1830-'l.  Though  he  and  Mr.  Perrin  were  elected,  as  sta- 
ted by  Mr.  Sheil,  their  triumph  was  short-lived,  for  they  were  unseated  on  pe- 
tition.—  M. 

t  Mr.  George  Ogle  Moore,  who  was  M.  P.  for  Dublin,  for  a  short  time,  was 
one  of  the  most  undistinguished  men  in  Parliament. —  M. 


358  STATE    OF    PARTIES    IN    DUBLIN. 

continued  their  deliberations  tlirough  tlie  night.  Mr.  Moore, 
as  yet  untliought  of,  retired  at  his  accustomed  hour  to  repose. 
At  midnight,  as  the  story  goes,  he  was  suddenly  awakened, 
and  saw  at  his  bedside  the  portly  form  of  Master  Ellis,  deputed 
from  the  still-sitting  committee,  to  know  if  he  would  consent  to 
be  returned  to  Parliament  from  his  native  city.  Mr.  Moore 
rubbed  his  eyes,  pressed  the  Master's  hand  more  closely,  to  as- 
certain that  it  was  a  hand  of  flesh  and  blood  ;  saw  visions  of  Par- 
liamentary renown  start  up  before  him,  and  thinking  that  naio 
he  surely  could  not  be  dreaming,  gave  his  assent.  The  next 
day  he  was  the  member  for  Dublin :  the  "  Mirror  of  Parlia- 
ment" tells  the  rest. 

Mr.  Frederick  Shaw  is  a  much  younger  man  than  Mr.  Moore. 
He  was  called  to  the  bar  in  the  year  1822,  and  for  the  first 
five  years  gave  no  signs  of  his  subsequent  prosperity.*  He 
was  assiduous,  but  in  no  way  distinguished.  The  first  occa- 
sion upon  which  the  courts  became  familiar  with  his  name  was 
in  1827,  upon  the  arrival  of  Sir  Anthony  Hart  as  the  Lord 
Chancellor  of  Ireland.  Sir  William  M'Mahon,  the  Master  of 
the  Rolls,  conceived  that  in  him  was  vested  the  power  of  ap- 
pointing a  particular  officer  of  his  own  court.  Former  Chan- 
cellors, however,  had  claimed  and  exercised  the  right  of  ap- 
pointment, and  Sir  Anthony  Hart  announced  that  he  would 
follow  their  example.  The  Master  of  the  Rolls,  desirous  that 
the  question  should  undergo  a  solemn  discussion  and  adjudica- 
tion, nominated  his  relative,  Mr.  Shaw,  to  the  office  in  dispute. 
Mr.  Shaw  presented  a  petition  to  the  lord-Chancellor,  praying 
to  be  admitted  to  the  performance  of  ihe  duties,  and  the  per- 
ception of  the  profits,  and  Mr.  Saurin  appeared  as  the  leading 
counsel  in  support  of  the  claim. 

The  matter,  in  itself,  was  one  of  no  sort  of  public  interest  : 
it  was  a  mere  question  of  patronage  between  two  judicial  dig- 

*  Frederick  Shaw,  whose  eariy  appointment  to  the  Recordership  of  Dublin 
excited  much  discussion  at  the  time,  probably  owed  his  preferment  to  the  facL 
that  his  aunt  was  wife  of  the  late  Sir  William  M'Mahon,  then  Master  of  the 
Rolls  in  Ireland.  Mr.  Shaw,  where  politics  did  not  bias  him,  gave  satisfaction 
as  a  judge.  He  was  a  Privy  Councillor  and  represented  the  University  of  Dub* 
lin  in  several  Parliaments. —  M. 


CHANCELLOR    HAET.  359 

nitaries  ;  yet  wondrous  Avas  the  interest,  or  at  least  the  curios- 
ity, with  which  the  proceedings  were  watched,  and  the  result 
conjectured.  It  had  the  novelty  of  being  the  first  case  in  any 
way  peculiar,  and  that  one  relating  to  himself  individually, 
upon  which  the  newly-imported  Chancellor  was  to  be  called 
upon  to  decide.  It  was  expected  by  sundry  shrewd  solicitors 
that  litigation,  even  between  two  such  high  contending  parties, 
would  produce  the  usual  feelings  of  personal  estrangement,  and, 
as  a  profitable  result,  that  appeals  from  the  Rolls  to  the  Chan- 
cellor would  not  fail  to  be  multiplied  ;  while  others,  who  had 
been  often  made  to  smart  under  Sir  William's  inexorable  rules 
and  orders,  were  delighted  to  find  that  his  Honor  for  once  had 
a  prospect  of  feeling  in  his  own  purse  what  it  was  to  have  the 
prayer  of  a  petition  refused  with  costs. 

These  were  the  effusions  of  the  mere  idle  gossip  of  the  Hall, 
and  excited  nothing  but  amusement;  but  pending  the  discus- 
sion, an  incident  occurred  which  sent  a  profounder  feeling 
through  the  courts  and  the  country.  In  the  course  of  his  ar- 
gument, Mr.  ^aurin,  for  the  moment  oblivious  of  the  recent 
change  of  Chancellors,  implored  of  the  Court  to  recollect 
the  seditious  spirit  that  was  abroad,  and  the  factious  disposi- 
tion daily  manifested  to  bring  even  the  highest  public  func- 
tionaries into  contempt  —  a  disposition  which  "  the  continuance 
of  the  present  litigation  would  not  fail  to  foster  and  gratify.'' 
This  was  a  topic  to  which  Lord  Manners  would  have  listened 
with  all  the  nervous  attention  of  a  weak  mind  overawed  by 
the  horrors  of  a  phantom-story.  The  healthier  intellect  of  Sir 
Anthony  saw  in  it  nothing  but  its  inappropriateness.  He  in- 
terposed, saying  :  "  If  there  be  any  spirit  abroad  which  would 
lead  persons  to  degrade  the  higher  authorides  of  the  country, 
my  opinion  is,  that  that  spirit  can  only  be  met  and  counteract- 
ed by  those  who  hold  such  high  situations  having  their  motives 
and  their  actions  exposed  to  the  fullest  public  scrutiny.  When 
these  motives  and  that  conduct  are  properly  placed  before  the 
world,  they  may  be  satisfied  that  both  will  be  rightly  appreci- 
ated by  the  public  :  and  so  much,  Mr,  Saurin,  for  that  topic." 
The  effect  of  these  few  simple  words  in  the  Irish  Court  of  Chan- 
cery was  electrical.     Mr.  Saurin  was  disconcerted  ;  his  Bruns* 


^bij  STATE    OF    PAiJTIKS    IN    DUBLIN. 

wick  friencls  beside  him  panic-struck;  Sergeant  Lefroy  looked 
first  up  to  heaven,  and  then  full  in  the  face  of  his  valued  friend 
Mr.  Henchy ;  Mr.  Henchy  responded  with  a  look  at  once  his- 
torical and  prophetic;  a  buzz  of  perturbation  passed  along  the 
benches  of  the  outer  bar;  while  Mr.  Eccles  Cuthbert  (almost 
the  sole  surviving  Whig  of  the  olden  time)  rushed  forth  from 
the  Court  toward  the  Hall,  and,  standing  at  the  top  of  the 
Chancery-steps,  proclaimed  to  a  group  that  he  beckoned  round 
him  the  joyful  tidings  that  **  if  he"  (Mr.  Cuthbert)  "  could  in- 
terpret the  signs  of  the  times  —  and  he  thought  he  could  —  the 
influence  of  Saurin  and  his  party  was  gone  for  ever." 

But,  to  return  to  Mr.  Shaw  —  the  decision  of  the  Chancellor 
was  against  him,  but  he  was  quickly  consoled  for  the  disap- 
pointment. The  Recordership  of  Dublin  becoming  vacant,  he 
had  the  good  fortune  to  be  elected  to  the  office.  The  public 
were  at  first  dissatisfied  with  the  selection  —  chiefly,  however, 
because  it  had  fallen  upon  so  juvenile  a  j)erson  ;  but  it  is  only 
justice  to  Mr.  Shaw  to  state  that  he  has  proved  himself  per- 
fectly competent  to  the  discharge  of  the  judicial  functions  that 
were  thus  rather  prematurely  cast  upon  him.  As  the  Recorder 
of  Dublin,  he  is  an  assiduous  and  excellent  public  officer.  I 
would  further  say  that  this  is  the  very  office  for  which  he  is 
peculiarly  adapted.  He  performs  the  substantial  duties  effi- 
ciently, and  wants  not  the  leading  ornamental  requisites  for 
those  matters  of  municipal  ceremony  in  which  he  is  called 
upon,  virtute  officii,  to  bear  a  prominent  part.  His  aspect  may 
still  be  over-youthful ;  in  fact,  when  he  appears  at  a  civic  fes- 
tival attired  in  his  legal  costume,  his  smooth  and  pallid  face 
and  rather  feminine  features  present  a  strong  similitude  to 
Portia  in  the  scene  where  she  holds  a  brief  against  Shylock; 
but  ample  compensation  for  this  deficiency  (if  it  be  one)  is 
made  in  the  proportions  of  his  frame,  which  possess  all  the 
necessary  corporate  massiveness  and  rotundity  for  the  scenic 
business  of  a  Lord  Mayor's  day.  I  have  seen  him  perform  on 
such  occasions  with  much  effect,  and  with  the  bearing  of  an 
actor  that  liked  his  part.  As  the  Recorder  of  an  ancient  and 
loyal  corporation,  Mr.  Frederick  Shaw  is  just  where  he  ought 
to  be.     He  has  no  unseemly  contempt  for  pageantry  ;  and,  for 


LOUIS    PERRIN.  361 

city  purposes,  is  a  most  discreet  and  emphatic  orator.  He  can 
descant,  witli  suitable  amplitude  of  phrase,  upon  the  sanctity 
of  chartered  rights,  and  can  deliver  the  prescriptive  lecture  to  an 
incoming  Lord-Mayor,  upon  his  civic  responsibilities,  in  terms 
of  the  most  stately  and  appropriate  commonplace.  To  such 
duties  he  is  equal,  and  not  above  them.  —  I  pass  on  to  the  other 
candidates. 

Sir  Robert  Harty  is  a  citizen  of  Dublin,  who  has  risen  by 
his  industry  to  considerable  affluence.  In  the  corporation,  of 
which  he  has  long  been  one  of  the  most  influential  members, 
he  has  been  noted  for  his  attachment  to  liberal  principles.  He 
is  the  brother-in-law  of  Alderman  M'Kenny,  who  in  his  year 
of  mayoralty  (1819)  had  the  courage  to  convene  a  general 
meeting  of  the  Protestants  of  Dublin,  to  petition  in  favor  of 
Catholic  Emancipation.  Sir  Robert  Harty's  civic  career  has 
been  marked  by  an  official  act  —  less  conspicuous,  it  is  true, 
but  of  similar  boldness.  When  the  Roman  Catholic  delegates 
were  prosecuted  by  the  Government  in  1812,  he  Avas  one  of  the 
Sheriffs  of  Dublin,  and  empanelled  an  impartial  jury  for  their 
trial.  This  gave  great  offence,  and  both  in  and  out  of  the  cor- 
poration the  honest  Sheriff  had  much  to  endure  for  having 
done  his  duty ;  but  he  has  fortunately  lived  to  find  that  sen- 
tence of  condemnation  in  those  times  now  forms  one  of  his  most 
valid  titles  to  public  confidence.  So  great  was  the  imagined 
strength  of  the  corporation  of  Dublin,  that  for  some  days  Sir 
Robert  Harty  was  the  solitary  candidate  upon  reform  princi- 
ples. More  than  one  of  the  commercial  body  of  Dublin,  though 
strongly  urged  by  the  popular  party  to  become  his  colleague, 
had  declined.  The  bar  was  then  resorted  to.  A  union  of  the 
most  important  qualifications  was  found  in  Mr.  Perrin,  who, 
after  repeated  solicitations,  consented  to  give  the  public  the 
use  of  his  name  and  character  for  the  advancement  of  the  great 
imperial  measure. 

Mr.  Perrin  was  called  to  the  bar  in  1806.  There  was  noth- 
ing sudden  or  brilliant  in  his  ascent  to  professional  distinction. 
He  was  patient  and  persevering;  and  in  his  deportment, 
whether  in  or  out  of  court,  simple  and  unobtrusive.  Even  af- 
ter the  extension  of  his  character  for  learning  and  ability  had 

Vol.  II.~16 


362  STATE   OF    PARTIES    IN    DUBLIN. 

brought  him  into  full  practice,  there  was  so  little  forensic  dis- 
play in  his  manner — what  he  said  upon  each  occasion  was 
always  so  much  to  the  purpose,  and  consequently  so  short  and 
direct  —  that  a  stranger  to  his  professional  repute  would  have 
principally  inferred,  from  the  frequency  of  his  appearances  in 
court,  that  he  was  already  high  among  the  most  eminent  coun- 
sel of  his  day.* 

Mr.  Perrin  is,  I  believe,  universally  admitted  to  be  the  best 
common-law  lawyer  of  the  Irish  bar.  It  is  probably  to  be  at- 
tributed in  some  degree  to  early  accidents  that  his  studies  and 
practice  should  have  been  exclusively  confined  to  this  depart- 
ment; but  I  apprehend  that  an  original  peculiarity  of  his  mind 
had  also  much  to  do  in  keeping  him  out  of  the  courts  of  equity. 
I  have  heard  it  related  of  him  that,  from  the  commencement 
of  his  legal  studies,  he  felt  a  deep  and  unconquerable  distaste 
to  equity -pleading  —  to  that  system  under  which,  as  a  matter 
of  ordinary  routine,  fifty  false  charges  may  be  made  against  a 
miserable  defendant  on  the  chance  of  eliciting  a  single  truth, 
and  under  which  the  same  defendant,  if  knavishly  disposed, 
and  aided  by  a  dexterous  pleader,  may  resort  to  as  many  de- 
vices to  evade  a  direct  and  intelligible  reply.  I  can  easily 
conceive  that  a  mind  like  Mr.  Perrin's,  always  seeking  accu- 
racy of  thought  and  brevity  of  expression,  should  have  turned 
with  disgust  from  the  farrago  of  long-winded  fictions,  and  end- 
less repetitions,  and  wordy  superfluities,  which  form  the  staple 
of  Chancery  pleadings ;  but  whatever  the  motive,  he  has, 
almost  from  the  outset  of  his  career,  confined  himself  to  the 
common-law  courts ;  among  them  the  King's  Bench  has  been 
the  principal  theatre  of  his  exertions.  Assiduous  application 
and  long  experience  have  rendered  him  familiar  with  all  the 
great  branches  of  the  law  that  are  brought  into  discussion  be- 
fore that  tribunal ;  and,  to  an  intimate  knowledge  of  his  subject, 
he  unites  logical  powers  of  the  highest  order.  His  diction, 
though  clear  and  vigorous,  is  not  always  fluent ;  but  the  occa- 

*  Louis  Perrin,  one  of  the  most  able  and  honest  of  the  Irish  bar,  was  promo- 
ted, in  due  course,  when  the  Liberal  party  were  in  power,  and  is  now  (.Tanuary, 
1854)  third  judge  of  the  Court  of  Queen's  Bench,  L-eland.  In  Parliament  he 
was  a  useful  and  laborious,  rather  than  an  oratorical  member. —  M. 


LOUIS  PEKum.  363 

sional  tardiness  of  phrase  to  which  I  allude,  and  which  detracts 
little  from  the  force  or  effect  of  his  reasonings,  appears  to  be 
very  much  the  result  of  acquired  habits  of  mastery  over  the 
most  important  operations  of  his  mind.  If  he  sometimes  pauses 
for  a  moment,  it  is  not  that  he  is  in  want  of  matter  or  of  words, 
but  that  he  is  determined  and  able  to  retain  and  exercise  a 
control  over  both ;  it  is  that,  even  while  his  mind  is  hurrying 
along  a  rapid  chain  of  reasoning,  he  still  preserves  the  power 
of  arresting  a  thought  in  its  progress  from  conception  to  expres- 
sion, and  of  ascertaining  its  fitness  for  his  purpose  before  he 
allows  it  irrevocably  to  pass  his  lips ;  and  the  result  of  the  en- 
forcement of  this  inward  discipline  is,  that,  though  his  language 
may  be  rendered  less  continuous,  his  argument  is  sure  of  being 
better  for  the  delay.  If  Mr.  Perrin  could  consent  to  be  a  less 
cautious  and  accurate  reasoner,  he  would,  I  am  satisfied,  be- 
come at  once  a  more  fluent  speaker ;  but  he  reasons  everything, 
abhorring  all  flashy  declamation,  and  guided  by  a  special  in- 
stinct against  the  use  of  words  for  talking-sake. 

Having  thus  shortly  referred  to  Mr.  Perrin's  professional 
qualifications,  I  need  hardly  add  that  he  has  for  many  years 
commanded  the  leading  business  of  the  Court  of  King's  Bench. 
Among  the  cases  constantly  occurring  on  the  criminal  side  of 
that  court,  there  is  one  class  in  Avhich  he  appears  to  have  estab- 
lished a  sort  of  personal  property  (for  he  is  never  omitted) :  I 
allude  to  appeals  from  convictions  by  magistrates  under  penal 
statutes,  particularly  those  relating  to  the  customs  and  excise. 
In  such  cases  the  offending  party  has  usually  a  twofold  chance 
of  escape  —  in  the  blunders  of  the  legislator,  and  in  those  of 
the  convicting  magistrates.  The  leaning  of  the  court  is  always 
to  uphold  such  convictions;  but  Mr.  Perrin,  with  his  sagacity, 
and  pertinacious  logic,  and  adroit  application  of  authorities 
that  bear,  or  appear  to  bear,  upon  the  point,  seldom  fails  to 
demonstrate  to  the  full  satisfaction  of  every  mind  in  court  (ex- 
cept perhaps  his  own)  that  something,  in  substance  or  in  form, 
has  been  wanting  to  legalize  the  proceedings  from  Avhich  his 
clients  have  appealed. 

The  subject-matter  of  such  discussions  is  in  general  devoid 
of  popular  interest ;  but  they  sometimes  acquire  from  incidental 


364:  STATE    OF    PAKTIES    IN    DUBLIN. 

circumstances  no  small  degree  of  scenic  effect.  I  remember, 
for  instance,  to  have  seen  some  years  since  one  of  tlie  side- 
galleries  of  tlie  Court  of  King's  Bench  occupied  by  an  entire 
ship's  crew  of  Dutch  smugglers,  brought  up,  under  writs  of 
habeas  corpus,  from  one  of  the  prisons  on  the  southern  coast  of 
Ireland ;  and  while  Mr.  Perrin,  as  their  counsel,  was  moving 
that  they  should  be  discharged  from  illegal  custody,  and  pres- 
sing the  court  with  arguments  and  cases,  it  was  curious  to  ob- 
serve his  weather-beaten  clients,  with  their  bluff  figures  and 
contraband  visages,  how  intently  they  looked  on  as  their  fate 
was  debated  in  (to  them)  an  unknown  tongue,  and  with  what 
a  singular  promptness  they  appeared  to  discover,  from  mere 
external  signs  —  from  the  looks  and  gestures  of  the  Judges  or 
the  auditors  —  that  their  counsel  was  making  way  with  the 
court.  Their  deliverance,  I  recollect,  was  effected  ;  and  if  they 
and  the  hundreds  of  others  of  their  trade  and  country,  whom 
Mr.  Perrin  has  similarly  rescued  from  an  Irish  prison,  have  any 
gratitude,  his  must  be  a  well-known  and  popular  name  in  the 
Dutch  ports. 

Mr.  Perrin's  professional  eminence  was  not  his  sole  ground 
of  claim  to  the  honor  of  representing  the  city  of  Dublin  in  Par- 
liament :  he  had  a  further  and  stronger  recommendation  to 
the  public  confidence  in  the  vigor  and  integrity  of  his  personal 
character.  The  political  principles  which  he  avows  have  now, 
in  the  circle  of  events,  become  the  reigning  doctrine  of  the  day, 
and  the  merit  may  be  small  of  professing  such  principles  at  the 
present  moment.  Mr.  Perrin's  praise  is,  that  what  he  now  is, 
he  has  always  been ;  that  under  circumstances  the  most  ad- 
verse to  professional  advancement,  he  entered  into  no  compro- 
mise between  his  interests  and  opinions,  but  in  every  stage  of 
his  progress  asserted  himself  and  the  dignity  of  his  profession 
by  an  erect  and  independent  bearing ;  he  did  so  in  a  temper 
and  spirit  the  most  remote  from  faction,  but  he  met  with  little 
mercy.  He  had  incurred  the  virtue  of  public  spirit,  and  was 
marked  for  discouragement  —  even  the  poor  distinction  of  a 
silk-gown  was  delayed  until  Lord  Manners's  last  general  levee 
of  King's  counsel  \  and  even  then  it  was  vmderstood  that  Mr. 
Perrin  would  have  been  designedly  omitted,  had  not  the  Lord 


POPULAR   TRIUMPH.  365 

Chief-Justice,  to  whose  better  spirit  what  is  just  and  manly 
is  always  familiar,  peremptorily  interposed  his  authority,  as  the 
head  of  the  common-law  bar,  against  an  act  of  such  unworthy 
partisanship. 

I  fear  that  I  am  trespassing  on  the  ground  of  the  "  Sketches 
of  the  Irish  Bar ;"  but,  as  I  have  gone  so  far,*  let  me  say  a 
word  of  Mr.  Perrin's  personal  appearance.  It  is  not  so  re- 
markable as  to  attract  examination ;  but  when  you  examine  it, 
you  find  its  unostentatious  simplicity  to  be  strikingly  accord- 
ant with  his  mind  and  character.  His  figure  is  about  the  mid- 
dle size,  and  slightly  approaching  to  corpulence.  He  has  black 
hair,  a  dark  complexion,  and  regular  Koman  features.  Though 
no  one  has  a  quicker  perception  of  mirth,  or  enjoys  it  more 
heartily,  the  habitual  expression  of  his  countenance  is  grave- 
ness,  even  perhaps  to  a  touch  of  sadness ;  the  latter,  however, 

*  Mr.  Perrin  was  worthy  of  a  distinct  place  in  these  "  Sketches,"  for  few 
lawyers  harl  so  much  to  contend  with,  on  account  of  particular  family  circum- 
stances (of  no  interest  to  the  public),  which,  for  a  time  clouded  his  prospects. 
The  touch  of  sadness  upon  his  countenance  was  caused,  I  doubt  not,  by  the  mis- 
conduct of  a  near  relative,  which  met  with  exemplary  punishment  from  the  law. 
The  Irish  attorneys,  among-  whom  this  person  had  once  been  enrolled,  considered 
it  hard  that  an  innocent  man  should  suffer,  from  a  sort  of  reflected  cloud,  and 
generously  showed  their  sympathy,  by  throwing  as  much  business  into  Mr. 
Penin's  hands  as  they  safely  could.  In  a  short  time,  proving  equal  to  the  labor, 
his  great  ability  obtained,  as  a  right,  that  practice  which,  at  first  had  been  con- 
ceded as  a  favor.  In  customs  and  excise  cases,  he  was  unapproached,  almost  from 
the  first. — As  I  am  on  a  legal  question,  and  have  arrived  at  the  close  of  this 
work,  let  me  add,  in  reference  to  the  conviction  of  John  Scanlan,  at  Limerick, 
in  1820,  for  murder  on  the  Shannon  (as  detailed  in  the  sketch  called  "  An  Irish 
Circuit,"  in  the  first  volume),  that  Mr.  Shell  treating  of  the  facts,  and  Gerald 
Griffin,  working  them  up  into  romantic  fiction,  strangely  omitted  two  strong 
points.  The  first,  as  to  motive.  Sullivan  confessed  to  Scanlan's  desire  to 
get  rid,  by  murder,  of  the  poor  young  creature  whom  he  had  seduced  (by  mock 
marriage),  "  because  she  kept  calling  him  her  husband."  The  second,  show- 
ing the  malice  prepense.,  was  that  the  crime  was  delayed  until  Scanlan  had  pur- 
chased a  boat,  in  which  the  victim  was  to  be  carried  out  of  sight  of  land,  and 
there  "  done  to  death,"  and  until  a  blacksmith  had  made  a  chain  and  collar  to 
tie  round  her  neck,  attached  to  a  heavy  stone,  to  sink  the  body.  I  have  read 
the  report  of  the  ti'ial,  since  I  annotated  Mr.  Shell's  detail  of  facts,  but  only  in 
time  to  put  the  statement  into  this  place. —  At  this  last  moment,  too,  I  perceive 
that  the  Marchioness  Wellesley  (the  heroine  of  the  Dublin  Tabinet  Ball,  Vol.  I.) 
died  at  Hampton  Court  Palace,  near  London,  on  December  17,  1853. —  M. 


866  STATE    OF   PARTIES   IN   DUBLEST. 

I  api)reliend  to  be  notliing  more  than  the  mere  trace  of  the 
laborious  occupations  in  which  his  life  has  been  passed.  On 
the  whole,  I  would  say  of  his  exterior,  including  face,  and 
form,  and  apparel,  that  it  was  individualized  by  a  certain  re- 
publican homeliness,  intimating  a  natural,  careless  manliness 
of  taste,  and  not  without  its  peculiar  dignity. 

I  intended,  when  I  sat  down,  to  have  entered  upon  some  of 
the  details  of  the  Dublin  election  and  its  sequel ;  but  the  sub- 
ject, I  find,  would  carry  me  too  far :  let  me  therefore  for  the 
present  merely  say  that,  after  an  obstinate  struggle,  the  corpo- 
ration, that  cumbrous  excrescence  upon  our  institutions,  was 
fairly  prostrated,  and  the  popular  candidates  returned.  The 
triumph  was  celebrated  with  all  due  rites  and  solemnities.  I 
witnessed  the  chairing  from  a  window  in  Grafton  street.  The 
sun  shone  brightly  on  the  procession  as  it  passed  —  but  not 
more  brightly  than  the  countenance  of  our  venerable  and  pa- 
triotic veteran,  Mr.  Peter  Burrowes,  who  had  taken  his  station 
at  an  opposite  balcony,  and  looked  down  (as  his  friend  Louis 
Perrin  was  wafted  along)  with  a  smile  of  joyous  and  ineffable 
thanksgiving,  that  he  had  been  spared  to  see  that  day. 


INDEX. 


Abduction,  Trials  for,  i.,  42 
Abercrombie,  James,  Speaker   of  the 
Commons,  ii.,  207  ;  Sinecurist,  Peer, 
and  Pensioner,  225 
Abinger,  Lord  (See   Sir  James  Scar- 
lett). 
Acres,  The  Fifteen,  ii.,  166 
Adelaide,  Queen,  and   the  Melbourne 

Ministrj^  ii.,  209 
Affidavit,  Oratory  of  the,  i,,  72 
Agrarian  Disturbances,  Causes  of,  ii., 

71 
"  All  L-eland,  Member  for,"  i.,  257 
"All  the  Talents,"  in   Office,  i.,  240; 
can  not  carry  Catholic  Emancipation, 
367 
American  compared  with  English  and 

Irish  Bar,  i.,  272 
American  Marchioness  (Wellesley),  i., 

333;  ii.,  365 
Amherst,  Lord,  his  Embassy  to  China, 

i.,  183  ;  ii.,  385 
Anglesey,  Marquis  of,  encourages  Lish 
Agitation,  i.,  387  ;  Memoir  of,  ii.,  255 
Antidote,  The,  Sir  Harcourt  Lees'  Jour- 
nal, i.,  349 
Anti-Tithe  Emeute  in  Limerick,  i.,  229 
Appeals,  heard  by  the  Peers,  i.,  175 
Approvers,  Irish,  i.,  23  ;  ii.,  54 
Argyle,  Duke  of,  ii.,  347 
Aristocracy,    Irish    Catholic,    i.,   365  ; 

join  Catholic  Association,  380 
Assistant-Bamsters,  Duties  of,  i.,  &7  ; 

as  County  Judges,  ii.,  100 
Assizes,  at  Limerick,  i.,  151 ;  at  Wex- 
ford, i.,  287  ;  at  Clonmel,  ii.,  14 
Associations,   Catholic,  their  History, 

i.,  359 
Attorney  and  Barrister,  different  Status 

of,  i.,  28 
Attorneys,  how  admitted  to   the  Bar, 
i..  29 


Author's  Introduction,  i.,  17 

Avocat,  a  French,  i.,  195 

Avonmore,  Lord  (Barry  Yelverton),  No- 
tice of,  i.,  25  ;  Friendship  for  Curmn, 
303 

Ball,  the  Dublin  Tabinet,  i.,  328 

Bar,  Calamities  of  the,  i.,  186 

Costume  in  Ireland,  ii.,  107 

Catholics  excluded  from  the,  ii.,90 

License  of  the,  i.,  277 

American  compared  with  the  Eng- 
lish and  Irish,  i.,  272 

Catholic,  ii.,  75 

French,  i.,  194 

Irish,   i.,   62 ;    Qualifications   for 


65 ;  Discipline  for,  66 ;  Independence 

of,  68 
Precedence  at  the,  ii.,  98  ;  Ti-ain 

ing  for  the,  156 
Bar-Mess,  Mock  Trials  before,  i.,  27 
Bar  Travelling,  Etiquette  of,  i.,  21 
Banington,    Sir  Jonah,  Notice   of,  i. 

247  ;  at  Dublin  Election,  270  ;  Scene 

with  Lord  Norbury,  ii.,  7 
Barrister  and  Attorney,  different  Status 

of,  i.,  28 
Barrister,Confessionsofa  Junior,  ii.,154 
Barristers,  Irish,  Term  Dinners  in  Lon- 
don, ii.,  156 
Barry,  Sir  Charles,  Architect,  i.,  254 
Beaconsfield,  Goold's  Visit  to,  i.,  242 
Beauty,  Iiish,  at  Tabinet  Ball,  i.,  331 
Bedford,  Duke  of,  Irish  Viceroy,  i.,  159 
Bell,  Jocky,  Notice  of,  ii.,  350' 
Bellamy's,  i.,  158;  Scene  at,  ii.,  251 
Bellew,  Sir  Edward,  ii.,  92 
Bellew,  William,  Catholic  Barrister,  ii., 

92  ;  Admission,  93  ;   Demeanor,  94  ; 

extensive  Practice.  96  ;  Pension,  98  ; 

Religious   Profession    and   Practice, 

104  ;  Scene  in  the  Rolls  Court  with. 

105 ;  Promotion,  354 


368 


INDEX. 


Beresfords,  the,  i.,  242 

Best,  Chief-Justice  (Lord  Wyiifovd), 
i.,  278 

Bethel,  Counsellor '  of  the  Half-Cro-wi  n,' 
ii.,  113 

Bexley,  Lord,  Notice  of,  ii.,  352 

Bianconi,  Charles,  his  Mode  of  Travel- 
ling, i.,  287 

Bible-Teaching,  O'Connell  on,  i.,  223 

Blackburne,  Lord-Chancellor,  an  Anti- 
Catholic,  ii.,  120;  his  Demeanor, 
126  ;  his  early  Anti-Curran  Manifes- 
tation, 128 ;  Progress  at  the  Bar,  129  ; 
Sits  as  Judge  under  the  Insurrection 
Act,  130  ;  his  Promotions,  133 

Blake,  Anthony  Richard,  i.,  79 ;  a  Cath- 
olic Pi'ivy  Councillor,  ii.,  78  ;  Edu- 
cation Commissioner,  260 

Blamey-Stone,  the,  i.,  63 

Bloomfield,  Lord,  Notice  of,  i.,  388 

Bolster's  Magazine  of  Ireland,  i.,  12 

Bottle-Riot,  the,  i.,  266  ;  Trial  for,  279 

Boulter,  Primate,  i.,  360  ;  ii.,  88 

Brady,  Maziere,  Lord-Chancellor  of 
IrelaJid,  ii.,  134 

Bridge  of  Wexford,  Massacre  on  the, 
i.,  297 

Brinkley,  Bishop,  the  Astronomer,  i., 
330 

Bristol,  Earl  of  (Bishop  of  Deny),  No- 
tice of,  i.,  234 ;  Anecdote  of,  386 

Bristol,  Marquis  of,  ii.,  348 

Bristol,  Refoi-m  Riots  in,  ii.,  210 

Brougham,  Henry,  entraps  Peel,  ii.,  34 ; 
his  Chancery  Refoi-m,  97  ;  Memoii 
of,  208 ;  his  Person,  209  ;  his  Elo- 
quence, 210  ;  Reply  to  Peel,  214  ; 
Dinner  to  Catholic  Deputation,  216  ; 
his  Conversation,  217  ;  his  Levee  as 
Lord-Chancellor,  339  ;  his  Promo- 
tion, 343;  Residence,  Costume,  and 
Visitors,  344 

Brummell,  and  the  Duke  of  Leinster, 
i.,  344 

Brunswick  Clubs,  ii.,  315 

Buckland,  Dr.,  Oxford  Professor,  ii., 
341 

Buggins,  Lady  Cecilia  (Duchess  of  In- 
verness), ii.,  219 

Bulls,  Irish  {vide  Sir  Boyle  Roche), 
ii.,  10;   Rationale  of,  11 

Bulvver,  Sir  E.  Lytton,  Satire  on  Sir 
J.  Scarlett,  ii.,  37 

Burdett,  Sir  Francis,  Notice  of,  ii.,  203 ; 
his  Attire,  205 

Burke,  Edmund,  Memoir  of,  i,  238 


Burrowes,  Peter — his  Absence  of  Mind, 

i.,  127  ;  as  an  Advocate,  127  ;  Notice 

of,  ii.,  124;   Plunket's  Character  of, 

125 
Burton,  Judge,   Notice    of,  i.,  273  ;    at 

Clonmel  Assizes,  ii.,  137 
BusHE,   Chief-Justice,   Sketch  of, 

i.,    121;   Descent,   122;    Early  Elo. 

quence,  123  ;  an  Anti-Unionist,  128 ; 

Promotion,  132 ;  as  an  Orator,  133 ; 

Conversation  and   Eloquence,  135 ; 

Brougham's  high  Opinion   of,  143  ; 

his  Wit,  144 

Memoir  of,  i.,  146;  Elevation  to 


the  Bench,  149;  redeems  his  Fam- 
ily Estate,  299  ;  at  Wexford  Assizes, 
299 ;  reforms  Abuses  on  Circuit,  302  ; 
pleads  against  Catholic  Committee, 
377  ;  Epigrams  bv,  ii.,  213 
Butler,  Charles,  ii.,  91 ;  Memoii  of,  197 
Butler,  Mr.  Augustine,  at  Clai'e  Elec- 
tion, ii.,  279 
Butler,  Sir  Theobald,  ii.,  79  ;   Capitu- 
lation and  Treaty  of  Limerick,  80 ; 
pleads  in  Parliament  against  its  Vio- 
lation, 82  ;  Argument  against  the  Pe- 
nal Code,  83  ;  Death,  Character,  and 
Epitaph,  87 
Byron,  Lady,  ii.,  348 
Byron,  Lord,  Opinion  of  Sheridan,  i., 
138;  Monody  on  Sheridan,  139;  on 
Reversal  of  Lord  E.  Fitzgerald's  At- 
tainder, 345 ;  on  Royal  Visit,  379  ;  on 
Mrs.  Wilmot  Horton,  ii.,  103  ;  Opin- 
ion of  Curran,  127  ;  on  Lord  Angle- 
sey, 256 
Calamities  of  the  Bar,  i.,186 :  Scene 
in  Chanceiy,  190  ;  Life  of  an  Emi- 
nent Lawyer,  196  ;   Heniy  MacDou- 
gall,  200 ;  Pomposo,  203 ;  Lord  Avon- 
more  and  the  Monks  of  the  Screw, 
206  ;  Norcott,  the  Renegade,   Story 
of,  210 
Callaghan,  Daniel  and  Gerald,  ii.,  76 
Callanan,  Jeremiah,  Irish  Poet,  i.,  13 
Calvin,  John,  burns  Servetus,  i.,  167 
Camden,  Loi'd-Chancellor,  Notice  of, 

i.,  104;  his  Independence,  ii.,  112 
Camden,  Marquis,  a  Model  Sinecurist, 

ii.,  329 
Campbell,  Lord,  Plunket's  bon-mot  up- 
on, i.,  117  ;  his  Irish  Chancellorship, 
119;  as  Chief-Justice,  ii.,  340 
Campbell,  Thomas,  the  Poet,  i.,  12 
Canning,  George,  his  Career,  i.,  322 
Canterbury,  Archbishop  of,  ii.,  344 


INDEX. 


369 


Canterbury,  Viscount  (see  Manners  Sut- 
ton) 

Carding  in  Tipperary,  i.,  71 

Carleton,  Lord  Chief-Justice,  ii,,  19 

Carnarvon,  Earl  of,  ii.,  346 

Caroline,  Queen,  her  Counsel,  i.,  264; 
Bribed  Witnesses  at  her  Trial,  ii.,  35 

Carroll,  Father,  of  Wexford,  Trial  of, 
i.,  304 

Castle,  the,  i.,  160 

Castiereagh,  Lord  (Marquis  of  London- 
derry), Notice  of,  i,,  131 ;  how  he 
carried  the  Union,  248 

Catherine,  Queen,  Ti-ial  of,  i.,  91 

Catholic  Aristocracy,  their  Support  of 
the  Union,  ii.,  98 

Association  founded,  i.,  379 

Bar,  ii.,  76  ;  Sir  Theobald  Butler 

and  the  Treaty  of  Limerick,  79 ;  Cath- 
olics excluded  from  the  Bar,  90  ;  ad- 
mitted, 91;  Bellew,  93;  Union  ob- 
tained on  False  Pretences,  98  ;  Scene 
in  Court,  105 

— Board,  the,  i.,  133 

■ Deputation,  ii.,  192  ;  Visit  to  Dr. 

Milner,  195  ;  ari-ive  in  London,  202  ; 
attend  Debate  in  House  of  Commons, 
207  ;  Dinner  at  Brougham's,  216 ; 
.  Public  Meeting  in  London,  220 ;  Din- 
ner at  Norfolk  House,  224 

Emancipation,  opposed  by  George 

ni.,  and  supported  by  his  Ministers, 
i.,  367  ;  carried  by  Wellington,  ii.,  266 

Leaders  and  Associations,  i., 

359;  Penal  Laws,  361 ;  Keogh's  Lead- 
ership, 363;  Denis  Scully,  370;  O'- 
Connell,  372 ;  Royal  Visit,  377  ;  Cath- 
olic Association  founded,  379 ;  sup- 
ported by  the  Catholic  Priesthood 
and  Ai'istocracy,  381 

L'ish,  Existence  of  acknowledged, 

i.,  362 

■ Magistrates,  ii.,  178 

Meetings,  i.,  281,  and  ii.,  220 

Politics  in  1825*  ii.,  192 

Relief  Bill,  ii.,  302 

Cazales,  Opinion  of  Burke,  i.,  238 

Chadwick,  Mr.,  Murder  of,  ii.,  42 

Chambers,  Sir  William,  i.,  330 

Chancery,  Court  of,  ii.,  96  ;  Delays  in, 
97  ;  Reform  of  97 

Chantrey,  Sir  Francis,  Sculptor,  i.,  332 ; 

Charlemont,  Earl  of,  brings  Plunket 
into  L'ish  Parliament,  i.,  99 

Chesterfield, Earl  of,Lish  Viceroy,  ii.,88 

Cheyne,  Dr.  John,  Notice  of,  i,,  198 


Chiefs,  on  the  Bench,  i.,  176 
China,  Embassies  to,  i.,  183 
Circuit  Abuses,  Reform  of,  i.,  302 
Circuit,  the.  North  Wales,  i.,  26  ;  Mon- 
ster, 35  ;  Leinster,  287 
Circuit,  Mock-Trials  on,  i.,  27 
Circuits,  the  Law,  i.,  19 
Clanricarde,  Marquis  of,  ii.,  352 
Clai'e  Election,  ii.,  265  ;    Vesey  Fitz 
gerald opposed, 266 ;  O'Connell  takes 
the   Field,  270 ;    Nomination,  287 ; 
Candidates'    Speeches,    289  ;     Inci- 
dents in  the  Election,  295 ;  O'Con- 
nell elected,  302 
Clare,  Lord-Chancellor,   Notice  of,  i., 

67  ;  his  Flippancy,  228 
Clerk,  Loi-d  Eldin,  Anecdote  of,  i.,  188 
Clergy,  Catholic  and  Protestant,  i.,  308 
Clive,  Lord,  Royal  Gift  to,  i.,  153 
Clogher,  deposed  Bishop  of,  i.,  290 
Cloncuny,   Lord,   Notice   of,  i.,   147 ; 

suspected  of  Disaffection,  ii.,  15 
Clonmel.  Lord,  Notice  of,  i.,  151 
Clonmel  Assizes,  ii.,  41 :  Murder  of 
Mr.  Chadwick,  42  ;  Murder  of  Dan- 
iel Mara,  47  ;  Earl  of  Kingston,  48  ; 
an  Approver,  54;  the  Keoghs,  61; 
Crime    in     Tipperary,    66  ;     Arthur 
Young  on  Whiteboyism,  67  ;  the  Pe- 
nal  Code,  69 ;    Policy  of  Concilia- 
tion, 74 
Cobbett,  John  Morgan,  ii.,  319 
Cobbett,  William,    sued    and    cast   by  . 
Plunket,  i.,  102;  his  History  of  the 
Protestant  Refm-mation,  ii,,  198  ;  his 
Career,   319 ;    at  Penenden   Heath, 
320 ;    Resemblance    to    Sir    Walter 
Scott,  321 
Cockle,   Mr.  Sergeant,  his  Half-Fee, 

ii.,  114 
Coif,  Dignity  of  the,  i.,  174 
Coke,  T.  W.,  of  Norfolk  (Earl  of  Lei- 
cester), ii.,  221 
Colclough,  Caesar,  Epigram  on,ii.,214 
"  Collegians,  The,"  Origin  of,  i.,  42 
Colles,  Surgeon,  Notice  of,  i.,  198 
Colonels,  the  Three,  O'Connell's  Epi- 
gram on,  i.,  257 
Combermere,  Lord,  consulted  by  Lord 

Norbury,  ii.,  37 
"  Comical  Miscreant,"  Cobbett  so  called 

by  O'Connell,  i.,  284 
Commons,  Irish  House  of,  i.,  130 
Commons,  Nobility  in  the,  ii.,  251 
Compensation    to   Irish  Boroughmon* 
gers,  i.,  249 


16* 


370 


INDEX. 


Confederation,  the  Irish,  i.,  11 
Confessions  of  a  Junior  Barrister, 
ii.,  155  :  Training  for  the  Bar,  156  ; 
Speech  at  Aggregate  Meetiiig,  158 ; 
a  Lawyer  in  Love,  162  ;    a   Double 
Confidant,  165  ;  the  Gain  of  Godli- 
ness, 166  ;  hope  deferred,  167  ;  dan- 
cing into  Practice,  170 
Connaught,  serving  Writs  in,  i.,  70 
Conyngham,  Marchioness  of,  a  Royal 

Favorite,  i.,  378 
Cooper,  C.  P.,  of  Chancery  Bar,  edits 

Brougham's  Judgments,  ii.,  345 
Copley,  Sir  John  (see  Lord  Lyndhurst) 
County  Judges,  Irish,  ii.,  100 
"  Cork  Mercantile  Chronicle,"  i.,  12 
Cork-screw^,  Shell  and  the,  i.,  13 
Comwallis,  Lord,  ii.,  98 
Corporation  of  Dublin  and  Lord  Man- 
ners, ii.,  181 
Coulin,  Singing  of  the,  i.,  296 
Counsel  for  Prisoners,  ii.,  51 
Counsellor,  Title  of,  i.,  29 
Court,  Inns  of,  i.,  28 
Coutts,  Thomas,  his  Wealth,  ii.,  203 
Crampton,  Judge,  Notice  of,  i.,  314 
Crampton,  Sir  Philip,  ii,,  26 
Cranw^orth,  Lord-Chancellor,  an  Anti- 

Law^^Reformer,  ii.,  97 
Cove  of  Cork,  Name  changed,  i.,  22 
Covv^ley,Curran's  happy  Quotation  from, 

i.,  303 
Croker,  John  Wilson,  i.,  213 
Croly,  satirizes  "  The  Tenth"  in  a  Com- 
edy, i.,  355 
Crotty,  Dr.,  Pros,  of  Maynooth,  i.,  383 
Cronan,  Lariy,  Trial  of,  i.,  33 
Cumberland,  Duke  of  (King  of  Hano- 
ver), Grand-Master  of  the  Orange- 
men, i.,  290  ;  heads  the  Brunswick- 
ers,  ii.,  315 
Cun-an,  John  Philpot,  Anecdotes  of,  i., 
63  ;   Varied  Powers  67  ;  Defence  of 
the   Sheareses,  99 ;    his   Opinion    of 
Charles   Phillips,    124 ;    Description 
of  Loi'd  Downes,  177  ;  with  Monks 
of  the  Screw,  207  ;  with  Lord  Avon- 
more  and  a  Dublin  Jury,  275  ;   Rec- 
onciliation with  Lord  Avonmore,  303  ; 
his  Irish  Grave,  354  ;  hon-mot  on  Lord 
Norbuiy,  ii.,  7  ;  his  Career,  127  ;  de- 
scribed by  Byron  and  Phillips,  128 ; 
Dascription  of  Peel,  211;  his  Con- 
versation, 216 
CuiTan,  William  Henry,  writes  his  Fa- 
ther's Life,  ii.,  128 


Curtis,  Archbishop,  Notice  of,  ii.,  386  , 
Corresjiondence  with  the  Duke  of 
Wellington,  388 

Catting  and  Maiming,  Ellenborough's 
Act  against,  i.  34 

Darnley,  Earl  of,  ii.,  317 

Dawson,  Alexander,  at  Louth  Election, 
ii.,  235 

Dawson,  George  Robert,  ii.,  32 

Day,  Judge,  at  Killarney,  i.,  301 

Denman,  Lord  Chief-Justice,  his  Inde- 
pendence, ii.,  112;  his  Career,  253 

Derangement  of  the  Mind,  Dr.  Cheyne 
on,  i.,  199 

Den-y,  Bishop  of  (Earl  of  Bristol),  i., 
234 

D'Esterre,  Duel  w^th  O'Connell,  i.,  16 

D'Este,  Sir  Augustus,  ii.,  219 

D'Este,  Mademoiselle,  now  Lady  Tru- 
ro  ii.   219 

"  De'vil,"  the  Judge's,  i.,  228 

Devonshire,  Duke  of,  ii.,  217 

Devonshire,  Georgiana,  Duchess  of, 
ii.,  327 

Dickens,  Charles,  Original  of  his  Ed- 
itor Pott,  ii.,  258 

Dinner-Bell,  the  soubriquet  of  Edmund 
Burke,  i.,  239 

Disraeli,  Benjamin,  his  Chai-acter  of 
J.  W.  Croker,  i.,  214 

Dock,  Irish  Criminal,  i.,  31 

Doctors  of  Civil  Law,  Practice  of,  i., 
174 

DoHERTY,Chief-Justice,  the  late,  i,, 311; 
Promotion,  313  ;  Parliamentary  Con- 
test with  O'Connell,  325  ;  made  Chief 
Justice,  325 ;  Official  Qualifications, 
326  ;  prosecutes  the  Murderers  of 
Daniel  Mara,  ii.,  47  ;  his  Promotion 
resisted  by  Lord  Manners,  181 

Doneraile  Conspiracy,  i.,  325 

Donoughmore,  Earls  of,  i.,  371 

Donnybrook  Fair,  Decline  and  Fall  of, 
i.,  23 

Downes,  Lord,  i.,  176 ;  described  by 
Curran,  177 ;  Vice-Chancellor  of 
Trinity  College,  290 

Downing  Street,  London  —  locale  of 
Government  Offices,  i.,  254 

Doyle,  Doctoi',  Bishop  of  Kildaio  and 
Lcighlin,  i.,  318  ;  joins  Catholic  As- 
sociation, 381 ;   Memoir  of,  382 

Doyle,  Sir  John,  Anecdotes  of,  i.,  123 

Prumgoole,  Doctor,  a  Catholic  Leader, 
i.,  374 

Dublin  Cagtie,  i.,  160 


INDEX. 


371 


Dublin  Election,  in    1803,  i.,  270;   in 

1831,  ii.,  357 
"  Dublin  Evening  Mail,"  ii.,  176 
"  Dublin  Evening  Post,"  i.  354 ;  pros- 
ecuted by  Government,  372 
Dublin,  Four  Courts  in  i.,  58 
Dublin,  State  of  Parties  in,  ii.,  354 
Dublin  Tabinet  Ball,  i.,  328;  Ori- 
gin of,  329  ;   Beauty  at,  331 ;   Lord 
and  Lady  Wellesley  at,  335  ;  Sir  Har- 
court  Lees  at,  340  ;  Duke  and  Duch- 
ess of  Leinster  at,  350  ;  the  Younger 
Grattan  at,  352;   Officers   of  "The 
Tenth"  at,  355 ;  Miss  O'Connell  at, 
357 
Dublin  Theatre,  "  Bottle  Riot,"  i.,  266, 

279 
"  Dublin  University  Magazine" on  Plun- 

ket  and  Emmett,  i.,  103 
"  Dublin  Warder,"  i.,  340 
"Dublin  Weekly  Register,"  ii.,  118 
Dudley,  Sir  Henry  Bate,  i.,  294 
Duelling  in  Dublin,  i.,  69  ;  at  the  Bar, 
153  ;  Lord  Norbury's,  ii.,  6  ;  Extinc- 
tion of,  268 
Duffy,  Mr.,  Editor  of  "The  Nation," 

ii.,-118 
Duigenan,  Dr.,  Notice  of,  i.,  78 
Dumferline,  Lord  (see  Abercrombie). 
Dunleary,  Name  changed  to  Kingston, 

i.,  80 
Durham,  Earl  of,  ii.,  218 
Dying  Declarations  of  Criminals,  i.,  55 
Edgeworth,  Miss,  the  Irish   Novelist, 

i.,  91 
"  Edinburgh  Review,"  Macaulay  a  Con- 
tributor to,  i.,  213 ;    how  founded, 
ii.,  346 
Education  in  Ireland,  i.,221 ;  too  pros- 
elyting, 223 
Eldin,  Lord,  Anecdote  of,  i.,  188 
Eldon,  Lord,  his  Career,  i.,  104  ;  An- 
ecdote  of,  188 ;    his  Chanceiy  De- 
lays, ii.,  97 
Elections,  Duration  of,  ii.,  293 
Elective  Franchise  granted  to  the  Cath- 
olics, i.,  368 
EUenborough,   Lord,  his  Act,  i,,  34 ; 
Partisanship  on  Hone's  Tiial,  ii.,  112 
Ellis,    Master  in   Chancery,  M.  P.  for 

Dublin,  i.,  261 :  how  elected,  352 
Eloquence,  Character  of  O'Connell's, 

i.,  221 
Elrington,  Bishop,  i.,  287  ;  suppresses 
the  HistoiTcal  Society,  and  denoun- 
ces Books  of  Necromancy,  290 


Embassit^s  to  China,  Cost  of,  i.,  183 

Emmett,  Robert,  Trial  and  Defence  of, 
i.,  100 ;  Plunket's  Speech  against, 
101 ;  Reproof  to  Lord  Norbury,  ii.,  15 

Emmett,  Temple,  his  brief  Career,  i., 
100 

Emmett,  Thomas  Addis,  Notice  of,  i., 
100 

England  and  Ireland  compared,  ii.,  200 

England,  Bishop,  ii.,  213 

English  Judicature,  i.,  174 

English  Law  in  Ireland,  i.,  58 

Equity  Judges,  ii.,  97 

Errol,  Earl  of,  ii.,  347 

Erskine,  Lord-Chancellor,  i.,  139 

Esmonde,  Sir  Thomas,  ii.,  196 

Ex-Chancellors,  hear  Appeals  as  Law- 
Lords,  i.,  175 

Executions  in  Ireland,  i.,  53 

Falstaff,  a  Legal  (Bumbo  Green),  ii., 
109 

Faniham,  Lord,  ii.,  351 

Fauntleroy,  Henry,  Doubts  of  his  Exe- 
cution, i.,  57 

Fees,  Lawyers',  i.,  19 ;  Anecdotes  of, 
ii.,  114 

Fermoy,  Magistrates  at,  ii.,  178 

"  Fighting  Fitzgerald,"  ii.,  6 

Fingal,  Earl  of,  i.,  373 ;  Notice  of,  ii., 
102  ;  Chairman  of  Aggregate  Meet- 
ing, 158 

Fitzgerald,  the  Approver,  ii.,  54 

Fitzgerald,  Lord  Edward,  i.,  344  ;  Me- 
moir of,  345 

Fitzgerald,  Sir  Augustus,  ii.,  289 

Fitzgerald,  Prime  Sergeant,  his  Nation- 
ality and  Death,  ii.,  290 

Fitzgerald,  W.  Vesey  (Lord  Fitzgerald 
and  Vesci),  opposed  at  Clare  Elec- 
tion, ii.,  266  ;  Notice  of,  271 ;  Hust- 
ings Speech  at  Clare,  290 ;  Defeat, 
302 

Fitzgibbon  (Earl  of  Clare),  Notice  of, 
i.,  67 

Fitzgibbon,  Mr.,  and  the  Small  Fee, 
ii.,  114 

Fitzherbert,  Mrs.,  and  George  IV.,  ii., 
35 

Fitzpatrick,  General,  on  Burke,  i.,  239 

Fitzvvilliam,  Earl,  Notice  of,  i.,  240  ;  at 
Norfolk  House,  ii.,  226 

Fletcher,  Mr.  Justice,  ii.,  29  ;  his  angi-y 
Vibrations,  30 

Flood,  Sir  Fi-edcrick,  ii.,  7 

Flood,  Henry,  in  the  British  Parl^'a 
ment,  i.,  113 


372 


INDEX. 


Follet,  Sir  William,  on  Lawyei's'  Prac- 
tice, i.,  188 

Foote,  Maria,  Marriage  with  the  Earl 
of  Harnngton,  i.,  350 

Foreign  Titles  held  by  British  Subjects, 
i.,  331 

Fortescue,  Mr.,  Defeat  of,  at  Louth, 
248 

Foster,  John  Leslie,  at  Louth  Elec- 
tion, ii.,  236  ;  the  Nomination,  241 ; 
in  Parliament,  250  ;  Incidents  of  his 
Life,  254  ;  his  Appointments,  260  ; 
On  Education  Liquiiy,  260  ;  Counsel 
to  Customs  and  Excise,  a  Job,  264 

Four  Courts,  Dublin,  i.,  18,  and  58 

Fox,  Charles  James,  Death  of,  i.,  323  ; 
his  Career,  ii.,  228  2* 

Francis,  Sir  Philip,  on  Burke's  Pen- 
sion, i.,  239 

Freeman,  Henry  Deane,  Assistant  Bar- 
rister, ii.,  100 

Freemasons'  Hall,  Catholic  Meeting  in, 
ii.,  220 

Free  Trade,  Peel's  System  of,  ii.,  215 

French  Bar,  the,  i.,  194 

F'rench,  Counsellor,  ii.,  323 

French,  Lord,  Description  of,  i.,  373 

Fuller,  Jack,  a  Parliamentary  Joker, 
ii.,  7  _  ■ 

Gallantly,  Criminal,  i.,  40 

George  III.,  his  Present  to  Lord  Clive, 
i.,  153  ;  opposes  Catholic  Emancipa- 
tion, i,,  367 

George  iV.,  Visit  to  Ireland,  i.,  18  ; 
retains  Anti-Catholic  Ministers,  371 ; 
Reception  in  Ireland,  377  ;  Byron's 
Satire  upon,  379 

Geraldines,  Heir  of  the,  i.,  343 

German  Prince,  Tour  of  a,  ii.,  291 

Giiford,  John,  denounced  by  Grattan, 
i.,  270 

Gladstone,  William  Ewart,  at  Oxford, 
ii.,  193 

Glascot,  Toby,  an  Election  Candidate, 
ii.,  263 

"  Glorious,  pious,  and  immortal  Mem- 
oiy,"  ii.,  132 

Godwin,  William,  Notice  of,  ii.,  122 

Goldsmith,  Oliver,  his  Description  of 
Burke,  i.,  239 

GooLD,  Mr.  Sergeant,  Sketch  of,  an 
Admirable  Crichton,  i.,  232  ;  his  Ex- 
travagam-e,  233  ;  goes  to  the  Bar,  235; 
his  Advancement,  242 ;  Nisi-Prius 
Practice,  242  ;  his  inordinate  Vanity, 
243 ;    Influence   with   Juries,   244 ; 


charged  with  Prevarication  before 
Limerick  Election  Committee,  250  ; 
defended  by  Grattan,  251 

Gordon,  Duchess  of,  i.,  212 

Gore,  Mr.,  the  Cromwellian,  ii,  291 

Goulburn,  Henry,  Notice  of,  i.,  95  ;  de- 
fends Saurin's  Letter,  ii.,  36 

Gorman,  William,  and  "  The  Burning 
of  the  Sheas,"  ii.,  138 

Gonxianstown,  Lord,  joins  the  Catholic 
Association,  i.,  380 ;  Notice  of,  ii., 
102 

Grace,  Patrick,  Ti'ial  of,  ii.,  44 

Grady,  Hairy  Deane,  i.,  26  ;  his  Jury- 
Eye,  141  ;  his  Cross-Examination, 
ii.,  22 

Grattan,  Henry,  Notice  of,  i.,  114  ; 
Moore's  Lines  on,  115;  his  Opinion 
of  Burke,  238  ;  of  Goold's  Integrity, 
251  ;  his  later  Unpopularity,  270  ; 
last  Public  Appearance,  282  ;  Burial- 
place,  354  ;  his  Conversation,  ii., 216 

Grattan,  Henry  junior,  i.,  352  ;  at  Tab- 
inet  Ball,  355 

Green,  Bumbo,  ii.,  108 

Gregoiy,  Dr.  Tighe,  ii.,  183 

Gregory,  Under  Secretary,  ii.,  36  ;  out 
of  Office,  356 

Grenville,  Lord,  and  Catholic  Emanci- 
pation, i.,  367 

Grey,  Earl,  Memoir  of,  ii.,  227  ;  his 
Aristocratic  Pride,  229 

Grey,  List,  the,  ii.,  227 

Griffin,  Gerald,  Irish  Novelist,  Oi'igin 
of  his  "  Collegians,"  i.,  42 ;  his  Omis- 
sions, ii.,  365 

Grimaldi,  Joseph,  the  Pantomimist,  ii., 
32 

Guillamore,  Viscount  (see  O'Grady). 

Gurney,  Sir  John,  "  the  Hanging- 
Judge,"  ii.,  340 

Hamilton,  Gerard,  Opinion  of  Burke 
i.,  238 

Hanlon,  Ellen,  Murder  of,  i.,  42 

"  Hannibals,  the  Father  of  the,"  i.,  102 

Hardwicke,  Lord-Chancellor,  i.,  104; 
Notice  of,  317 

Hardwicke,  Earl  of,  his  Vicei'oyalty, 
i.,  370 

Harlowe,  G.  H.,  the  Painter,  Notice 
of,  i,,  91 

Harrington,  Dowagei'-Countess  of  (Ma- 
ria Foote,  the  Actress),  i.,  350 

Harrington,  Earls  of,  i.,  350 

Hart,  Sir  Anthony,  Chancellor  of  Iro 
land,  ii.,  174 ;  ou  the  Bench,  359 


INDEX 


373 


Harty,  Sir  Robert,  Lord-Mayor  of  Dub- 
lin, ii.,  357 
Hatherton,  Lady,'  Beauty  of,  i.,  332 
Harvey,  Bagcnal,  Execution  of,  i.,  192 
Henchy,  Peter  Fitzgibbon,  ii.,  121 
Hertford,  Lady,  lier  "  Fatal  Witchery" 

of  George  IV.,  i.,  371 
Hervey,  Lord,  Pope's  Satire  on,  i,,  234 
Hessians,  the,  in  Ireland,  i.,  155 
Hill,  Sir  George,  and  Wolfe  Tone,  ii., 

31 

Hincks,  Francis,  his  Education,  ii.,  48 

Historical     Society,    Dublin,    i.,    123 ; 

Bushe's  Speech  in,  124  ;   School  of 

Oratory,  253  ;  suppressed  by  Pi'ovost 

Elrington,  290 

Hogan,  Matthew,  Mr.  Sheil's  Speech 

on,  ii.,  150 
Hohenloe,  Prince,  reputed  Miracles  by, 

i.,  310 
Holmes,  Robert,  Father  of  the   Irish 

Bai-,  i.,  313 
Holj'cross,  Abbey  of,  ii.,  44 
Honors,  English,  held  by  Irish  Peers, 

i.,  159 
Hope,  Mr.,  and  Lord  Norbury,  i.,  170 
Hop£,  Thomas,   Author    of   "  Anasta- 

tius,"  i.,  211 
Horton,  Sir  Robert,  Wilmot,  ii.,  104 
Huguenots  in  L^eland,  i.,  167 
Hume,  Joseph,  Notice  of,  ii.,  217 
Hunt,  Henry,  Notice  of,  ii.,  322 
Hussey,  Peter  Bodkin,  a  Catholic  Lead- 
er, i.,  376 
Hutchinson,  Provost,  and  his   Family, 

i.,  371 
Informers,  Curran  on,  i.,  24 
Inglis,  Sir  Robert  Harry,  his  Intoler- 
ance, ii.,  193 
Innoshowen,  why  so  called,  i.,  70 
Inns  of  Court,  i.,  28 
Ireland,  Education  in,  i.,  221 

South  of,  i.,  20 

Travelling  in,  i.,  21 

" Young,"  i.,  369 

Irish  Bar,  Independence  of,  i.,68;  Fa- 
ther of  the,  313 
"  Irish  Blackguard,"  Origin  of,  i.,  308 
Irish  Circuit,  an,  i.,  19 

Confederation  formed,  i.,  11 

Deputies,  Napoleon  on,  ii.,  206 

Judges,  Character  of,  ii.,  112 

Judicature,  i.,  174 

Peers,  in  the  British  Parliament, 

i.,  159 
'         Roads,  ii.,  181 


Irish  Sabbath,  i.,  290 
Volunteers,  i.,  363 


J.  K.  L.,  Signatui'e  of  Dr.  Doyle,  i.,  318 
Jackson,  Devonshire,  an  Irish  Judge, 

ii.,  76 
Jackson,  Rev.  William,  his  Death,  ana 

Refusal  to  escape,  ii.,  235 
Jail-Delivery,  i.,  33 
Jeffrey,  Lord,  Notice  of,  ii.,  346 
Jesuits  and  Lord  Manners,  ii.,  187 
Jocelyn,   Percy,    Deposed    Bishop    of 

Clogher,  i.,  290 
Jocelyn,  Viscount,  ii.,  237 
Johnson,  Dr.,  Opinion  of  Burke,  i.,  238 
Johnston  ("  Bitter  Bob")  and  Plunket, 

i.,  113 
Johnson,  Judge  Robert,  convicted   of 

Libel,  i.,  303 
Johnson,  Mr.  Justice  William,  at  Wex- 
ford Assizes,  i.,  299 ;    Antipathy  to 
Lord  Norbury,  ii.,  30 
Jones,  John  Gale,  Notice  of,  ii.,  156 
Joy,  Chief-Baron,  i.,  170:   his  Tory 
Politics,  173 ;  Promotion  as  Solicitor- 
General,   179;   Legal  Ability,   180; 
Scientific   Pursuits,   181 ;    as  Chief- 
Baron,  185 
—  Memoir  of,  i.,  170 

Valedictory  to  Lord  Manners,  ii.. 


157 

Judges,  Equity,  Number  of,  ii.,  ii/ 
Judges'  Salaries,  Pensions,  and  Life« 

Appointments,  i.,  175,  and  ii.^  Ill 

Partisanship  in  Ireland,  112 
Judge's  "  Devil,"  i.,  228 
Judicature  in   Great  Britain  and   L'e- 

land.  i.,  174;  System  of,  ii.,  Ill 
Jury,  Curran  and  a  Dublin,  i.,  274 
"  Juverna,"  Letters  of,  by   Judge    R. 

Johnson  ;  prosecuted  as  libellous,  303 
Keller,  Jeny,  i.,  207  ;  Bon-mots,  208 
Kenmare,   Lord,   i.,   380 ;    Notice    of. 

ii.,  102 
Kenny,  Rev.  Mr.,  Provincial  of  the  Jes- 
uits, ii.,  262 
Kent,  Chancellor,  and  Thomas  Addis 

Emmett,  i.,  100 
Kent  County  Meeting,  ii.,  315 
Kentish  Men,  ii.,  316 
"  Kent,  Men  of,"  ii.,  316 
Keogh,   John,   a   Catholic    Leader,  i., 

363  ;   his  Career,  366 ;   opposed  by 

O'Connell,  368 
Keoghs,  Trial  of  the,  ii.,  61 
Kildare   Street  Association,    i.,   220 ■« 

Meetings,  223 


874 


INDEX. 


KHIai-ney,  Lakes  of,  i.,  301 

Killeen,  Lord,  a  Catholic  Leader,  i., 
380  ;  Notice  of,  ii.,  102 

Kilmurry,  the  Seat  of  Charles  Kendal 
Bushe,  i.,  300 

Kilwarden,  Lord,  killed  by  Mistake  for 
Lord  Carleton,  ii.,  19 

King-,  Sir  Abi'aham  Bradley,  ii.,  183 

King-,  Dr.  William,  Archbishop  of  Dub- 
lin, ii.,  n 

King's  Counsel,  Privileges  of,  i.,  320; 

Partisanship  in  appointing,  i.,  321 
Kingsborough,  Viscount,  his  "  Antiqui- 
ties of  Mexico,"  ii.,  49 
Kingston,  Earl  of,  ii.,  48 
Kirwan,  Mr.,  Prosecution  of,  i,  377 
KnatchbuU,  Sir  Edward,  ii.,  335 
Ko-tou,  Chinese  Ceremony  of,  i,,  183 
Lacy,  Patrick,  Trial  of,  ii.,  47 
Ladies  in  Court,  i.,  40 
Latouche,  J.  D,,  Banker  in  Dublin,  i.,  94 
Law-Lords  in  Parliament,  i.,  175 
Law   Reforms,   by    Peel,   i.,    327 ;    by 

Brougham,  ii.,  97 
Lawless,  "  Honest  Jack,"  ii.,  276 
Laws,  Penal,   extended,   i.,   361 ;    re- 
laxed, 362 
Lawyer,  Life  of  an  Eminent,  i.,  196  ; 
a  Saintly,  217  ;   a  Perfect,  311  ;   in 
Love,  ii.,  162 
Lawyers,  the  Yelverton,  i.,  205 
Leaders,  Catholic,  Sketch  of,  i,,  359 
Lees,  Sir  Harcourt,  Memoir  of,  i.,  340  ; 
his  Person  and  Attire,  341 ;   at  the 
Tabinet  Ball,  342 
Lefroy,   Chief-Justice,  i.,  216:    a 
Saintly  Lawyer,  217  ;  Kildare-Street 
Meetings,  223  ;  in  Court  of  Chance- 
ry, 226  ;  Merit  as  an  Advocate,  227  ; 
his  Promotion,  229 
Legal  Cavalcade,  i.,  27 
Leicester,  Earl  of  (Thomas  W.  Coke), 

ii.,  211 
Leinster  Circuit,  i.,  287  ;    Bushe's  At- 
tachment to,  301 
Leinster,  Duchess  of,  i.,  350 
Leinster,  Duke  of.  Notice  of,  i.,  343 ; 
Want  of  Nationality,  347  ;  his  Pur- 
suits, 349 
Leinster,  Mount,  in  Wexford,  i.,  295 
Leopold,  Prince,  a   Serene  Highness, 

ii.,  27 
Lethbridge,  Sir  Thomas,  ii.,  262 
"  L'Etoile,"   a    Parisian   Journal,  Mr. 

Shell's  Contributions  to,  ii.,  83 
Liberators,  Order  of,  il,,  286 


License  of  the  Bar,  i.,  277 
Life-Appointment  of  Judges,  i.,  175 
Liffey,  a  Dip  in  the,  i.,  63 
Limerick  Assizes,  i.,  51 ;  Special  Com 

mission,  229 
Limerick,  Treaty  of,  ii.,    80 ;    Britisli 

Violation  of,  81 
Listen,  John,  the  Comedian,  i.,  343 
Liverpool,    Earl    of,    an    Incompetent 

Prime    Ministei',    i.,    322 ;    opposes 

Emancipation,  ii.,  206 
Locke,  John,  his  Treatise  on  Govern- 
ment excluded  from  Dublin  Univer- 
sity Course,  i.,  254 
Londonderry,Marqui3  of(Castlereagh), 

i.,  131 
Long  Orchard,  the  Burial-place  of  Mr. 

Shell,  i.,  11 
Lord-Chancellor's  Salary  and  Pension, 

i.,  175 

Lords,  House  of,  highest  Court  of  Ju- 
dicature, i.,  175 
Louth  Election  in  1826,  ii.,  236 
Lundifoot,  the  Dublin  Tobacconist,  i., 

308 

Lyndhurst,  Lord-Chancellor,  ii.,  340 
Macartney,  Lord,  his  Embassy  to  China, 

i.,  183 
M'Cleary,  David,  ii.,  183 
M'Cleland,  Judge,  Forbearance  on  Em- 

mett's  Trial,  i.,  103 
M'Cormick,  Toby,  and  Lord  Norbury, 

ii.,  25 
MacDonnell,  j$}neas,  conducts  a  Cath 

olic    Journal,  i.,  370 ;    Account   of, 

ii.,  202 
MacDonald,  Sir  A.,  Use  of  Epithets  in 

Parliament,  ii.,  292 
"  MacDougall  of  the  Roar,"  i.,  200 
M'Dowall's  Statue  of  Sir  M.  O'Logh- 

lin,  ii.,  116 
M'Kenny,  Sir  Thomas,  presides  at  the 

Dublin  CathoHc  Meeting,  i.,  281 
Mackenzie,    Dr,   Shelton,    Memoir    of 

Shell  by,  i.,  5  ;  Notes  by,  passim. 
Mackintosh,   Sir  James,    on    Plunket, 

i.,  Ill 
M'Mahon,    Mr.,    a    Pauper    Banister, 

i.,  91 
MacMahon,  Sir  William,  Master  of  the 

Rolls,  ii.,  105  ;   Dispute  with  Sir  An- 
thony Hart,  ii.,  358 
M'Namara,  Major,  ii.,  267  ;  his  Char- 

acter,  268 
MacNally,  Leonard,  and  his  Book,  ii. 

295 


INDEX. 


375 


Mag-ee,  John,  Editoi'  of  the  "  Dublin 
Evening  Post,"  i.,  372 

Mag-ee,  Dr.  "William,  Archbishop  of 
Dublin,  i.,  288;  officiates  at  Lord 
Wellesley's  Marriage,  335;  compared 
with  Ai'chbishop  King,  ii.,  11 

Magratli,  Counsellor,  great  Length  of, 
i.,  155  ;  Moore's  Question  to,  156 

Maguire,  Rev.  Thomas,  ii,,  277  ;  Me- 
moir of,  278 ;  at  Clare  Election, 
279 

Mahon,  O'Gorman,  ii.,  269  ;  Notice  of, 
274;  vi^ears  the  Order  of  Liberators' 
Sash  and  Medal,  285  ;  proposes  O'- 
Connell  at  Clare,  289 

Mahony,  Darby,  and  Lord  Norburj'-, 
ii.,  17 

Manners,  Lord,  his  Family  Connec- 
tions, i.,  191  ;  Judicial  Liefficiency, 
315  ;  Partisanship,  320  ;  retires  from 
Office,  ii.  5 

Sketch  of,  ii.,  172 

Takes  Leave  of  L'ish  Bar,  172 

Joy's  Valedictory  to,  175 

Shell's  Opinion  of,  177 

Manners  Testimonial,  ii.,  185 

Mara  Family,  the  Conspii-acy  against, 
ii.,  46 

Mara,  Daniel,  Trial  of  his  Murderers, 
ii.,  47 

Mara,  Philip,  Witness  on  a  Murder- 
Trial  ii.,  44 

Marriage  out  of  the  Dock,  i.,  41 

Marriages,  Catholic,  ii.,  95 

Martin,  of  Connemara,  i.,  166  ;  his  Suc- 
cessors, 166 

Martin,  Mrs.  Bell,  her  Death  in  New 
York,  i,,  166 

Martin,  Richard,  of  the  English  and 
L-ish  Bar,  ii.,  100 

Maturln,  his  Opinion  of  Mrs.  Siddons, 
ii.,  218 

Mayne,  Judge,  and  Jerry  Keller,  i.,  208 ; 
hig  imposing  Gravity,  ii.,  27 

Maynooth,  College  of,  i.,  221 

Meagher,  Thomas  Francis,  i.,  369 

Mellon,  Harriet,  her  Husbands  and 
Wealth,  ii.,  203 

"  Member  for  all  Ireland,"  i.,  257 

Messiah  of  Royalty,  Byi'on's,  i.,  379 

Meti-opolitan  Magazine,  i.,  14  ;  Sketch- 
es from,  ii.,  340  and  354 

Milbanke,  Sir  John  Peneston,  ii.,  348 

Milbourne-Port,  Borough  of,  represent- 
ed by  Mr.  North  and  Mr.  Shell,  i., 
255 


Mills,  Hany,  at  Louth  Election,  ii.,  243 

Milner,  Bishop,  Visit  to,  ii.,  195 

Mind,  Dr.  Cheyno  on  Derangement  of 
the,  i.,  199 

Mitchel,  John,  Irish  Patriot,  i.,  369  ; 
Editor  of  "  The  United  Ii-ishman," 
ii.,  118 

Monks  of  the  Screw,  their  Charter- 
Song,  i.,  206 

Monomania,  Father  Carroll's,  i.,  305 ; 
fatal  Effects  of,  307 

Monster  Meetings,  ii.,  280 

Moore,  George  Ogle,  a  Candidate  at 
Dublin,  ii.,  357 

Moore,.  Judge,  ii.,  31 ;  at  Clonmel  As- 
sizes, 48  ;  his  Chai-acter,  123 

Moore,  Thomas,  on  Captain  Rock,  i., 
39  ;  on  Sheridan,  138 ;  on  Richard 
Martin,  166  ;  his  Birth,  208  ;  on  Spen- 
cer Perceval,  289  ;  where  born,  296  ; 
on  Duke  of  York,  ii.,  207  ;  on  Lord 
Anglesey,  250  ;  on  Wellington,  308 

Morgan,  Lady,  i.,  351 

"  Morning  Chronicle,"'  London  News- 
paper, i.,  39 

Mornington,  Countess  of.  Mother  of 
four  Peers,  i.,  336 

Mornington,  Earl  of,  i.,  95 

Mountain-Dew,  i,,  70 

Mountain-Peasantry  in  Court,  i.,  30 

Murder  on  the  Shannon,  i.,  42 

Munster  Circuit,  i.,  35 

Murphy,  Father,  of  Corofin,  ii.,  281 ;  his 
Speech  in  Irish,  282 ;  his  Vigilance, 
302 

Murray,  Dr.,  Archbishop  of  Dublin,* 
i.,  387 

Murray,  Lady  Augusta,  ii.,  219 

Muskau,  Prince  Puckler,  on  O'Con- 
nell,  ii.,  291 

Napoleon  on  Chinese  Embassy,  i,,  183  ; 
retains  Napper  Tandy,  ii.,  9  ;  Opin- 
ion of  Irish  Deputies,  206 

"  Nation,  The,"  Dublin  Repeal  Jour- 
nal, ii.,  118 

National  Debt,  how  increased,  i.,  240 

National  Education  in  Ireland,  i.,  221 

"  New  Monthly  Magazine,"  i.,  12 

Nisi-Prius  Practice,  i.,  29 

Nobility  in  House  of  Commons,  ii.,  251 

NoRBURY,  Lord,  Sketch  of,  ii.,  5: — 
called  to  the  Bar,  7  ;  lights  his  Way 
on,  9  ;  as  Solicitor-General,  13  ;  Cini- 
elty  in  the  Sheareses  Case,  14 ;  Harsh- 
ness to  Robert  Emmett,  15  ;  Judicial 
Brutality,  17 ;   Buffo  Scenes  in   his 


376 


INDEX. 


Court,  91 ;  his  Jests,  26  ;  violent  As- 
cendency Politics  ;  the  Saurin  Letter, 
33;    Negotiations    for    Resignation, 
36 ;    Consulting   a   Friend   in  India, 
37  ;  his  Library,  39 
Norcott,  the  Barrister,  turns  Moham- 
medan, i.,  214;  his  Fate,  215 
Norfolk,  Duke  of,  ii.,  220 
Norfolk  House,  Dinner  at,  ii.,  224 
North,    John   H.,    Admiralty  Judge, 
Sketch  of,  i.,  252  :  his  Career,  252  ; 
Bar  Progress,  256  ;  comparative  Fail- 
ure as  a  Senator,  261  ;  his  Exterior, 
262  ;  Political  Neutrality,  263  ;  Dub- 
lin Theatre  "  Bottle  Riot,"  266  ;  at 
Louth  Election,  ii.,  241 
Norton,  Sir  Fletcher,  Abuse  of,  ii.,  292 
Nugent,  Lord,  satirized  by  Canning,  ii., 

208  ;  Notice  of,  352 
O'Brien,  Sir  Edward,  at  Clare  Elec- 
tion, ii.,  280 
O'Brien,   William   Smith,  Memoir  of, 

ii.,  287  ;  his  Penal  Exile,  288 
O'CoNNELL,  Daniel,  his  Success  v^'ith 
Juries,  i,,  35  ;  Sketch  of,  i.,  73  ;  his 
Versatility,  74  ;  Memoir  of,  75  ;  his 
Property,  11 ;  Merits  as  a  Lawyer, 
78 ;  a  Tribune  of  the  People,  81 ; 
Demeanor  in  Couit,  82 ;  Defence 
of  Criminals,  86 ;  Duel  with  D'Es- 
terre,  89  ;  after  Clare  Election,  90  ; 
On  Circuit,  and  as  a  Public  Speaker, 
93  ;  in  Parilament,  94 — and  before 
the  Privy  Council,  95 
— —  Patent  of  Precedency  to,  i.,  174 

At  Kildare-Street  Meeting,  223 

Versatility   as    a    Speaker,   257 ; 

Entrance  into  Wexford,  297 ;  Par- 
liamentary Contest,  Mr.  Doherty, 
325  ;  Entrance  into  Public  Life,  368  ; 
his  Struggles,  "  within  the  Law,", 
for  Emancipation  and  Repeal,  369  ; 
on  the  King's  Visit,  drinks  the  Or- 
ange Charter  Toast,  378  ;  founds  the 
Catholic  Association,  379  ;  his  Man- 
ner of  Speaking  in  Public,  381 ;  his 
Costume  at  the  Assizes,  ii.,  107 

At  Aggregate  Meeting,  ii.,  159 

En  Route  to  London,  ii.,  194 

Visits  Dr.  Milner,  ii.,  196  ;  visits 


the  House  of  Commons,  ii.,  207 

Challenged  by  Peel,  ii.,  213 

Bushe's  Epigi-am  on,  ii.,  213 

— —  Character  of  his  Eloquence,  ii., 
221 ;  Speech  in  Freemasons'  Hall, 
221;  baffles  the  Reportersby  a  Speech 


in  L-ish,  280  ;  a  Man  of  the  People, 
291;    Elected   for  Clare,  302;    and 
Re-Election,  303 
O'Connell,  Maurice,  Death  of,  i.,  11 
O'Connell,  Miss,  at  the  Tabinet  Ball, 

i.,  357 
O'Gorman,    Nicholas    Purcel,   Keller's 
Retort  to,  i.,  209  :  his  Habiliments, 
ii.,  120  :    Visit  to  London,  207  ;   ap 
pointed  Cursitor,  355 
O'Grady,    Chief-Baron    (Lord    Guilla- 
more),i.,  135  ;  Anecdotes  of,  ii.,  113 
O'Hanlon,  Mr.,  Speech  by,  ii.,  223 
O'Leary,  Joseph,  Irish  Lyrist,  i.,  13 
O'Loghlin,  Sir  Coleman,  Irish  Banis- 
ter, ii.,  116 
O'Loghlin,  Sir  Michael  (Master  of 
the  Rolls),  Sketch  of:   Person,  De- 
portment, and  Descent,  ii.,  106  ;  Cir- 
cuit Costume,  107  ;  his  Mastery  of 
"Practice,"  111;  Memoir  of,   116; 
his  Promotions,  116  ;  his  Danish  An- 
cestor, 117;  Statue  of,  in  the  Four 
Comts,  ii.,  116 
O'Meagher,  J.  B.,  Pai'is  Con-espondent 

of  "  The  Times,"  i.,  13 
Orange  Toast,  ii.,  132 
Oratory,  Specimen  of  Forensic,  ii.,  157 
O'Regan,  Counsellor,  his  Life  of  J.  P. 

CuiTan,  ii.,  128 
Oriel,  Lord,  Notice  of,  ii.,  248 
Ormsby,  Sir  Charles,  and  Mr.  Sergeant 

Goold,  i.,  241 
Oxford  University,  Representation,  ii., 

193 
Palmer,  Lady,  Interview  with,  ii.,  88 
Parliamentary  Billingsgate,  ii.,  292 
Parliamentary  Reform,  when  earned, 

ii.,  227 
Patent  of  Precedency,  i.,  174 
Peel,  Sir  Robert:  his  Business  Hal)its 
and  Law  Reforms,  i.,  327  ;  defends 
the   Saurin  Letter,  ii.,  34  ;    defends 
Lord  Norbury,   37  ;   his   Early   Dis- 
tinctions,   193 ;    described    by  Cur- 
ran,  241 ;  Attack  on  Hamilton  Row- 
an, 211 ;   his   Oratory  and  Appear- 
ance, 212  ;  his  Challenge  to  O'Con- 
nell, 213  ;  Memoir  of,  215 
Peer,  Cost  of  making  a,  ii.,  249 
Peerage  of  Ireland,  degraded  by  tho 

Union,  i.,  159 
Penal  Laws,  Extension  of,  i.,  361 ;  Op- 
eration of,  ii.,  69  ;  first  Link  of,  80  ; 
denounced    by   Sir    T.    Butler,    83 
Enactments  of,  87 


INDEX. 


377 


Penenden  Heath  Meeting,  ii.,  315  : 
The  Gathering,  316;  the  Peers  and 
the  People,  318;  William  Cobbett, 
319  ;  Henry  Hunt,  322;  Lord  Win- 
chilsea  and  the  Brunswickers,  325  ; 
Shell's  Unspoken  Speech,  334 

Pennefather,  Edward,  Chief-Justice,  i,, 
188 

Pennefather,  Richard,  Baron  of  Ex- 
chequer, i.,  188 

Perceval,  Spencer,  Notice  of,  ii.,  289 

Perjury,  instant  Punishment  of,  i.,  33 

Perrin,  Judge,  Notice  of,  i.,  313  ;  Chai'- 
acter  as  a  Lawyer,  ii.,  362 ;  Private 
History,  364  ;  in  Parliament,  365 

Peterloo  Massacre,  denounced  by  Lord 
Fitzwilliam,  i.,  240 

Phillips,  Charles,  Irish  Orator,  Memoir 
of,  i.,  124 

Phoenix  Park,  Dublin,  ii.,  166 

Physiology  of  Race  in  Ireland,  i,,  166 

Pic-nic  in  the  Woods  of  Wexford,  i., 
295 

Pitt,  William,  and  Catholic  Emancipa- 
tion, i.,  367 

Plowden,  Francis,  the  Irish  Historian, 
ii.,  187 

Plu^ket,  Lord-Chancellor,  Sketch 
of,  i.,  98 ;  defends  the  Sheareses,  i., 
99  ;  opposes  the  Union,  99  ;  accused 
of  unnecessary  Harshness  to  Robert 
Emmett,  101 ;  Defence  by  Phillips, 
102  ;  great  Chancery  Practice,  103  ; 
Rationale  of  his  Pleading,  105;  not 
a  Case-Lawyer,  106  ;  his  Rhetoric, 
107 ;  Description  by  Phillips,  109  ; 
his  Style,  110;  Brougham's  Opinion 
of,  113;  Success  in  Parliament,  113; 
Advocacy  of  Catholic  Emancipation, 
114;  Anti-Union  Orations,  116;  his 
bon-mots,  117  ;  Memoir  of,  119 

Plunket,  Margaret,  and  the  Duke  of 
Rutland,  i.,  190 

Pollock,  Sir  Frederick,  ii.,  340 

Pomposo,  Counsellor,  i.,  203 

Ponsonby,  George,  Loi'd-Chancellor  of 
Ireland;  i.,  129  ;  Lord  Norbury's  At- 
tacks on,  ii.,  12 ;  on  Admission  of 
Catholic  Barristers,  91 

Pope,  Alexandei',  Satire  on  Lord  Her- 
vey,  i.,  234 

Potheen,  why  so  called,  i.,  70 

Pre-Audience  at  the  Bar,  ii.,  98 

Precedency,  Patent  of,  i.,  174 

Prcndergast,  Mr.,  Registrar  in  Chan- 
cery, i.,  189 


Price,  Dr.,  Notice  of  i.,  236 

Priests,  Exertions  of  the,  at  Clai'e  Elec 
tion,  ii.,  284 

Priestley,  Dr.,  Notice  of,  i.,  237 

"Prince's  Mixture,"  i.,  308 

Prisoners,  Counsel  for,  ii.,  51 

Prisoners'  Gratitude,  Anecdotes  of  i. 
37 

Process-Servers,  how  treated,  i.,  71 

Protestant  Ascendency,  Cause  of  Crime, 
ii.,  71 ;  what  it  means,  76 

Protestant  Reformation,  Cobbett's  His- 
tory of,  ii.,  198 

Protestant  Refomiation  Society,  ii.,  199 

Puisne  Judges,  i.,  176 

Qualification  of  Members,  ii.,  274 

"  Quarterly  Review,"  by  whom  estab- 
lished, i.,  213 

Queen's  Counsel  (see  King's  Counsel), 
how  appointed — Precedency — Num- 
bers— Advantages — and  Silk-Gowns, 
i.,  174 

Quotations,  Apt,  i.,  257 

Races,  Characteristics  of,  in  Ireland, 
i.,  166 

Radcliffe,  Dr.,  fees  Himself,  i.,  136 

Radnor,  Earl  of,  ii.,  318 

Raglan,  Lord,  Cost  of  his  Patent  of 
Peerage  ii.,  249 

Rathdown,  Lord,  in  Character,  ii.,  191 

Rebellion  of  1798,  i.,  154 

Redesdale,  Lord-Chancellor,  i.,  227 ; 
his  Successor,  228 

Reflections  on  the  French  Revolution, 
by  Burke,  Royal  Appreciation  of, 
i.,  239 

Reform,  Parliamentary,  when  carried, 
ii.,  227 

Regency,  Btlrke's  Advocacy  of,  i.,239 

Renegade,  Fate  of  Norcott,  the,  i.,  215 

Rent,  the  Catholic,  ii.,  292 

Repeal  of  the  Union,  O'Connell's  Agi- 
tation for,  i.,  369 

Results  of  Clare  Election,  ii.,  266 

Retiring  Pensions  of  the  Judges,  i..  175 

Revolution  in  Ireland,  Attempt  at,  i.,  11 

Riding-House  in  Dublin,  Tortures  in 
flicted  in,  ii.,  22 

Roche,  Sir  Boy  e,  his  Bulls,  ii.,  10 

Rock,  Captain  Lines  on  by  Moore, 
i.,  39 

Rockingham,  Marquis  of  brings  Burke 
inta  Parliament,  i.,  239 

Roden,  Earl  of,  ii.,  237 

Romilly,  Sir  Sanuiel,  Notice  of,  i.,  103 

Rosse,  Earls  of,  ii.,  33 


378 


INDl^X. 


Rotunda  in  Dublin,  Public  Meeting  in, 
i.,  281 ;  Tabinet  Ball  in,  i.,  330 

Rowan,  Archibald  Hamilton,  at- 
tacked by  Peel,  ii.,  211  ;  described, 
230;  his  Exile,  and  Pardon,  231; 
his  Manly  Appearance,  232  ;  Escape 
from  Prison,  233  ;  Asylum  in  Amer- 
ica, 235 

Royal  Visits  to  Ireland  :  by  Queen  Vic- 
toria, i.,  22  ;  by  George  IV.,  i.,  377 

Russell,  Lord  John,  and  Relief  of  Dis- 
senters' Civil  Disabilities,  ii.,  265 

Rutland,  Duke  of.  Viceroy  of  Ireland, 
i.,  190 

Saints,  the  Dublin,  i.,  322 

Saints,  Ireland  the  Island  of,  ii.,  197 

Saints,  the,  in  Parliament,  ii.,  359 

St.  Leonards,  Lord-Chancellor  (Sug- 
den),  i.,  204 

St.  Omer,  O'Connell  educated  at,  i., 
223 

St.  Patrick's  Hall,  in  Dublin  Castle, 
ii.,  220 

Salamanca,  Irish  Disputants  at,  de- 
scribed in  "  Gil  Bias,"  i.,  376 

Salaries  of  the  Judges,  i.,  175 

Sarsfield,  "the  Gallant"  Defender  of 
Limerick,  ii.,  80 

Saturday  Night,  the  Lawyer's  Holyday, 
i.,  206 

Saurin,  Attorney-General,  i.,  150  : 
Huguenot  Descent,  150 ;  Business- 
Habits,  153  ;  opposes  the  Union,  157  ; 
made  Attorney-General,  160;  Influ- 
ence with  Lord-Chancellor  Manners, 
160 ;  opposes  the  Catholic  Claims, 
161  ;  refuses  the  Chief-Justiceship, 
is  taken  at  his  Word,  and  loses  Of- 
fice, 163  ;  Deportment  and  Aspect, 
164  ;  Skill  as  an  Advocate,  168  ;  Dis- 
taste for  Literature,  169 

Injudicious  Letter  to  Lord  Nor- 

bury,  ii.,  33 — a  Bar  to  his  Promotion, 
35  ;  Lord  Manners'  Friendship  for, 
173  ;  reljuffed  by  Sir  A.  Hart,  238 

Scanlan,  John,  Trial  of  for  Murder,  i., 
51;  Conviction  and  Execution,  54; 
Popular  Belief  of  his  Escape,  57  ; 
Motive  and  Malice  prepense  of  his 
Crime  ii.,  365 

Scarlett,  Sir  James  (Lord  Abinger),  No- 
tire  of,  ii.,  36;  at  Brougham's  Din- 
ner, 219  ;  at  Brougham's  Levee,  348 

Scott,  Sir  Walter,  describes  Castlereagh 
at  the  Coronation,  ii.,  118;  his  own 
Resemblance  to  Cobbett,  321 


Scottish  Judicature,  i  ,  174 
Screw,  Monks  of  the,  i.,  206 
Scriven,  Barcbiy,  Description  of,  ii.,  122 
Sergcants-at-Law,    in    England — their 

Standing  and  Precedence,  i.,  173 
Sergeants-at-Law,  in  Ireland,  appoint- 
ed by  the  Crown,  and  their  Prece- 
dence, i.,  173 
Shannon,  Murder  on  the,  i.,  42  ;   Mo- 
tive of,  ii.,  365 
Shaw,  Frederick,  ii.,  358;    appointed 

Recorder,  360 
Shea,  John  Augustus,  Irish  poet,  i.,  13 
Sheareses,  John  and  Henrv,  Trial  of, 

i.,  98;  legal  Murder  of,  99 
Sheas,  Burning  of  the,  ii.,  138;   His- 
tory of,  139  ;  Trial  for,  142  ;  Shell's 

Speech  on,  149 
Sheehans,  Editors  of  Dublin  "  Even- 

ning  Mail,"  ii.,  176 
Shell,  Richard  Lalor,  Memoir  of,  i.,  5 
Shelley,  Mrs.,  Notice  of,  ii.,  122 
Sheridan,  Dr.,  Prosecution  of,  i.,  377 
Sheridan,  Richard  Brinsley,  Notice  of, 

i.,  138  ;  Byron's  and  Moore's  Opinion 

of,  i.,  138;  his  Address  to  the  Prince, 

i.,  371 
Shifnal,  Description  of,  ii.,  201 
Siddons,  Mrs.,  Anecdotes  of,  ii.,  218 
Sidmouth,  Viscount,  Letter  fi'om.  in  the 

King's  Name,  i.,  379  ;  his  Peerage, 

ii.,  352 
Silk-Gowns,  by  whom  worn,  i.,  174; 

Partisan  Disposal  of,  ii.,  320 
Singer,  Dr.  J.  H.,   Bishop  of  Meath, 

ii.,  11 
Slaney,  Scenery  on  the  River,  i.,  214 
Smith,  Egeiton   (usually   called   "  Bot 

Smith"),  i,,  258 
Smith,  S.  Catersca    Irish  Artist,  Poi-- 

trait  of  Shell  by   to  face — i.,  1 
Smith,  T.  B.  C,  Master  of  the  Rolls, 

ii.,  114 
Smith,  Sir  W.  Cusack,  Notice  of,  ii. 

114 
Smith,  W^illiam,  of  Norwich,  ii.,  351 
Smythe,   Hon.  Mr.,   a    "  Young    Eng- 
land" Leader,  ii.,  257 
Sorbonne  Doctors,  Attack  on  Bishop 

Doyle  by,  i.,  383 
Southey,  Robeit,  his  Opinion  of  Cob 

bett's  pure  English,  ii.,  319 
Speculative    Society  of  Edinburgh,  i., 

253 
Stanhope,  Colonel  Leicester  (Earl  of 

Harrington),  i.,  350 


INDEX. 


379 


State,  Lord  Wellesley's  Viceregal,  i., 
337 

State  of  Parties  in  Dublin  :  Mr, 
Bellew  in  "  Silk  Attire,"  ii.,  354  ; 
O'Loglilin  and  O'Gorman  promoted, 
355  ;  Dublin  Election :  Moore  and 
Recorder  Shaw  versus  Harty  and 
Perrin,  357  ;  Lord-Chancellor  Hart, 
Mr.  Saurin,  and  the  Master  of  the 
Rolls,  359  ;  Victory  of  the  Liberals, 
366 

Staunton,  Sir  George,  in  the  Emoassy 
to  China,  i.,  183 

Steele,  Thomas,  ii.,  269  ;  sent  to  Clare, 
270  ;  Memoir  of,  272  ;  seconds  Mr. 
O'Connell's  Nomination,  289 

Stephen's  Green,  Dublin,  ii.,  181 

Sterne,  Stor}'  of  the  Sword,  i.,  300 

Stothard,Thos.,  and  Chantrey's  "  Sleep- 
ing Children,"  i.,  332 

Stourton,  Lord,  a  Catholic  Peer,  ii.,  223 

Sti-angford,  Lord,  ii.,  257 

Stuart,  Villiers,  defeats  Lord  George 
Beresford  at  Waterford,  ii.,  235 

Stuff-Gown,  worn  by  Utter  or  Outer  Bar- 
risters, i.,  174 

Sullivan,  Stephen,  ti-ied  and  convicted 
of 'Mm-der,  i.,  56  ;  his  Confession,  56 

"  Sun,  The,".  London  Newspaper,  i.,  9, 
and  ii.,  331 

Sussex,  Duke  of.  Memoir  of,  ii.,  219 

Sutton,Charles  Manners  (Viscount  Can- 
terbury), Speaker  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  ii.,  207  ;  at  Brougham's 
Levee,  350 

Tabinet  Ball,  the  Dublin,  i,  328 

Tandy,  Napper,  a  United  Irishman, 
ii.,  9 

Taylor,  General  Zachary,  Wellington's 
Opinion  of,  ii.,  309 

"  Tenth,  The,"  Anecdotes  of,  i.,  355 

Terror,  Irish  Reign  of,  ii.,  14 

Test  and  Coiporation  Acts  repealed, 
ii.,  315 

Teynham,  Lord,  ii.,  333 

Thurlow,  Lord-Chancellor,  i.,  104  ;  his 
Opinion  of  Burke,  238 

"  Times"  Newspaper,  Influence  of,  i.,  39 

Tinnahinch,  Gratian's  Seat,  i.,  115 

Tipperary,  Ci-ime  in,  ii.,  65  ;  Antiquity 
and  Causes  of,  66 

Toler,  John  (Earl  of  Norburj-),  ii.,  5 

Tone,  Iheobald  Wolfe,  i.,  363  ;  Secre- 
tary of  the  Catholics,  366  ;  his  Sui- 
cide, ii.,  9  ;  Scene  with  Sir  George 
Hill,  31 ;  his  Eventful  Career,  119 


Torrens,  Judge,  ii.,  31 

Tower  of  London,  ii.,  205 

Towers,  Dr.,  Notice  of,  i.,  236 

Travelling  in  Ireland,  i.,  287 

Trinity  College,  Dublin,  i.,  288 

Trippier,  the  Parisian  Avocat,  i.,  195 

Troy,  Dr.,  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  i.,  385  , 
his  Poverty,  386 

Truro,  Lord-Chancellor  (Sir  Thomas 
Wilde),  large  Fee  to,  i.,  19 ;  originally 
an  Attorney,  29 

Union  Debating-Clubs  at  Oxford  and 
Cambridge,  i.,  253 

Union,  the,  opposed  by  CuiTan,  Plun- 
ket,    Ponsonby,    Saurin,    Burrowes, 

•  Bushe,  and  the  Irish  Bar  generally, 
i.,  129 ;  Banington's  Historic  Me- 
moirs of,  246  ;  how  the  Measure  was 
carried,  248  ;  opposed  by  O'Connell, 
369  ;  obtained  on  bi'oken  Promises, 
ii.,  98 

"  United  Irishman,  the,"  edited  by 
John  Mitchel,  ii.,  118 

Vallancey,  General,  the  Antiquarian, 
ii.,  260 

"  Vathek,"  Author  of,  i.,  193 

Verdicts,  Strange,  i.,  26 

Vestris,  Madame,  i.,  343 

Vice-Queen,  an  American,  i.,  332 

Victoria,  Queen,  visits  Ireland,  i.,  22 

Vizard,  William,  Attorney  to  Queen 
Caroline,  ii.,    348 

Voltaire,  Notice  of,  i.,  79 

Volunteers,  the  Irish,  i.,  363 

Walker's  "  Hibernian  Magazine,"  ii., 
178 

W  ALLACE,  Thomas ,  i., 269;  Promotion, 
270;  Liberal  Opinions,  270 ;  Intel- 
lectual Powers,  and  Appearance,  27 1; 
on  Jury-Cases,  274 ;  Fearlessness  at 
the  Bar,  276;  Literaiy  Taste,  285  ; 
in  Parliament,  286 

Walsh,  John,  tried  at  Clonmel  Assizes, 
ii.,  47 

War,  Four  Years'  Expenses  of,  ii.,  341 

Warren,  Mr.  Sergeant,  i.,  189 

Waterford  Election,  ii.,  235 

Wellesley,  Marquis,  why  made  Irish 
Viceroy,  i.,  178  ;  Bottle-Riot  against, 
266;  his  Man-iage,  334;  at  Tabinet 
Ball,  335  ;  Memoir  of,  336  ;  Assump- 
tion of  Regal  State  by,  337 

Wellesley,  Marchioness,  suggests  the 
Tabinet  Ball,  i.,  329 ;  Memoir  of  332  ; 
her  reputed  Wealth,  334  ;  her  Per- 
son described,  338  ;  Death  of,  ii.,  365 


380 


INDEX. 


Wellington,  Duke  of,  Epigram  on,  i.,  23; 
Letter  to  Archbishop  Curtis,  i.,  387  ; 
his  Career,  ii.,  308;  imputed  Want 
of  Nationality,  309  ;  at  Lord  Brough- 
am's Levee,  345 
Wetherell,  Sir  Charles,  ii.,  210 
Wexford  Assizes,  Sketch   of,  i.,  287  ; 

Trial  of  Father  Can-oil,  304 
Wexford,  old  Monastery  of,  i,,  290 

Peasantry  of,  i.,  292 

Massacre  on  the  Bridge  of,  i.,  297 

O'Connell's  Entrance  into,  i.,  298 

Whiteboys,  why  so  called,  i.,  39 
Whiteboyism,  how  caused,  ii.,  67 
Whitehall,  London,  Government  Offices 

in,  i.,  254 
Wigs,  Lawyers',  Differences  in,  i.,  174 
Wilde,  Sir  Thomas  (Lord  Truro),  large 

Fee  to,  i.,  19 

Wilkins,  Mr.  Sergeant,  Leader  of  the 

Northern  Circuit  in  England,  i.,  174 

William  III.,  a  Dutch  Adventurer,  i.  88 

Willis,  N.  P.,  his  "  Pencillings  by  the 

Way,"  ii.,  213 
Wilson,  Harriet,  Notice  of,  i.,  348 


Wilson,  Sir  Robert,  ii.,  347 

Wilson,  SirT.  M.,  High-ShenfTof  Kent, 

ii.,  326 
Winchilsea,  Earl  of,  ii.,  325;  his  Kent- 
ish Speech,  331 
Windele,  John,  Irish  Antiquarian,  i.,  13 
Windham,  Opinion  of  Burke,  i.,  238 
Wings,  the,  of  Emancipation  Bill,  i., 

7  ;  what  they  were,  ii.,  276 
Wolfe,  Rev.  Charles,  an  Orator  in  the 

Historical  Society,  i.,  253 
Wolfe,    Chief-Baron,    Carelessness    of 

Attire,  ii.,  107  ;  his  Career,  119 
Wolstoncroft,  Mary,  Author  of  "  The 

Rights  of  Woman,"  ii.,  122 
Yelverton,   Bariy,  his    Career,  i.,   25  : 

Friendship  for  Curran,  303 
Yelverton,  Lawyers,  the,  i.,  205 
York,  Archbishop  of,  ii.,  345 
York,  Duke  of,  Anti-Catholic  Speech 

by,  ii.,  207 
Young,  Aithur,  on  Irish  Crime,  ii.,  66 
Young,  Murdo,    of  "  The  Sun"  Nev/s- 

paper,  ii.,  331 
"  Young  Ireland"  Party  formed,  i.,  369 


THE    END 


mm^m  ^  ^''^^■*'''— Date  Due 


"^mm^K^y^m 


:V-^-r--  :l-^-.>     y.,  ^■  ...:■..••>,■,:•*..;<>;.-,*"■  ,v^,n.  «v- J/,•**i^^i  ■.■;■■..•,*,<, ■■.■,v;v'?^  *  .':•■'•■:,/■■; 'i:---  '•'>•,-:•.-•- ■^x-v   ■■*  -.y^,'  '•■  ^\ 


(:*-.: 


fr'"^, 


*-«*'« 


^     "^^ 


^'^'  "15 


'1^ 


^% 


^*%r 


r^%^  -#^ 

f  ■/-.-■     ■ 

-^'^-  ^ 

r  *•"■ 

^  'fif.j^^'C^ 


•^.-'■■-^Ar-  ■'^i-C^" 


w:^.^.t 


''-"&i 


^  .  •'%v^,.i»-.. 


z-^: 


■-' .   ^M^-^ 


